The Siege of UlronChi
by The Dark Marauder
Summary: For years the Siragoth demons have terrorized the lands of the east and have brought many nations to ruin. Soon these beasts will begin their conquest of the entire world, but first they must destroy the fortress of UlronChi and only Link can stop them.
1. Chapter One: The Fall of Carthor

Author's Note: Before anyone begins reading this story, realize that this is a sequel and will tend to be confusing if you have not read the first installment. You can go ahead and read this if you want, but I suggest reading my first story before this one. It is called The Lost Legend of the Triforce and can be found on this site as well. Enjoy.

**Chapter One: The Fall of Carthor**

"The demons of Siragoth approach! Every man to his battle station!" Shouted captain Aramoth of the Cathorian army to his men. The soldiers were quick to drop whatever task they were previously concerned with and rushed towards their various posts. The men were terrified as they took their positions. Few of the soldiers had ever actually seen these demons, for those who were unlucky enough to encounter the beasts seldom ever survived to recount their experience.

The demons of the land of Siragoth, or the Siragons as they were often called, were a belligerent race of beings that a little over two years prior had suddenly appeared in small numbers and began terrorizing whatever civilized settlement they came across. As time wore on, the Siragons numbers increased and they soon began coordinated assaults on a few seemingly random countries through out the eastern world. One by one, those nations fell to the Siragons, who after they plundered all of the land's resources and valuables, left it barren and void of any life. The Siragons had destroyed five such countries and Carthor was next on their list.

Carthor was one of the largest nations in the world and boasted the second largest army in existence. Only the land of Asrenath possessed a larger military, but both of those armies combined did not equal the armies the land of Acromiar had under its command not two years prior.

Acromiar was the first nation the Siragons invaded, but they were not then numerous enough to take Acromiar head on. According to the accounts of the few soldiers and the hundreds of thousands of refugees that were forced to flee from their homes before the fall of Acromiar, the Siragons somehow unleashed a flood of monsters on the land. Acromiar tried fighting back the demons for months and in the final weeks of the war against demon hordes it appeared as if the Acromiarians would survive. Eventually the Acromiarians did manage to destroy the last of the demons, but by that time they were too weak to stay the sudden attack of the Siragons. Acromiar could have defeated both the demons and the Siragons, if their allies had not abandoned them.

The reason for the desertion were the claims of the nations of Cyntir and Tyfiria that Acromiar had acquired some weapon of great evil and that the demon infestation was a punishment sent by the gods. Most of Acromiar's so called allies were already beginning to worry about the seemingly infinite size of its military, so at the prospect that Acromiar might gain even more power if left unchecked, the other nations of the world decided to let the military superpower fend for itself.

After Acromiar, the Siragons destroyed four smaller countries, but never in those invasions did the demons of Siragoth risk open war. They instead, cutoff their prey from their resources and gradually wore away at their defenses. In this manner Carthor was different from the rest of the Siragons victims. The demons had not bothered to attack Carthor's supplies. Instead, they simply began destroying every city and fortress that they came across as they marched through Carthor.

Before the Siragons destroyed many cities, Carthor's king, Hakama, ordered all of the men under his command to pull back to Carthor's largest stronghold, the fortress of Adorik, and for the women and children to evacuate to the north. A few of the soldiers now stationed in Adorik had met the Siragons in battle and they were the ones who were the most afraid, for they new the horrors the demons brought. Weapons of a strange design, capable of shooting a fire powerful enough to break through the walls of nearly any fortress and able to burn any defenders from atop the tallest battlement.

As the demons of Siragoth came within in sight of Adorik's garrison, many of soldiers felt a sudden urge to flee from their posts. Others were awe struck the menacing appearance of their foes. The demons were tall creatures, most measuring about six and a half feet high. The majority of the Siragons were clad in grey steel armor and carried with them heavy swords and shields and wore strong helmets. One group of demons did not wear the heavy armor. Instead they wore shirts of chain mail under clothes as black as the night, along with black steel wrist and shin guards, as well as light armor on their shoulders. These types of demons were called the Rimgard and were known by their enemies for their tremendous speed and agility. The Rimgard were a little shorter than the other Siragons and possessed less muscle mass, but they were no less deadly.

The Siragons were indeed a fearsome sight to behold, yet one man remained unmoved by the Siragon army. This man had seen the demons countless times before and had slain dozens if not hundreds of the loathsome beasts in battle. However, this man was not from Carthor, he was a Hyrulian, or at least he had been at one time. He was Link, the Hero of Time. He was garbed in a light coat of green along with a pair of pants and a long cap of the same color. He also wore brown leather boots and gauntlets and under his coat, a shirt of chain mail. The chain mail was the only armor he wore in skirmishes with the Siragons, for the demons were strong enough and their weapons sharp enough that armor did little to protect its wearer against their blows. On the other hand the Siragons were quite slow, with the exception of the Rimgard, so Link preferred to exchange an extra layer of protection for his natural speed when facing the demons.

Link had been trying to defend the enemies of Siragoth ever since the Siragons revealed themselves to the Acromiarians, but ultimately, there was nothing he could do to save the demons' quarry. As the Siragons ominously continued their march towards Adorik, Link thanked the goddesses that the creatures had not yet found their way to Hyrule; however the Hylian also found himself cursing his homeland for never sending any aid to the countries that were attacked by Siragoth.

Link had not been back to Hyrule in over three years, but he had not been in contact with anyone from that nation in thirteen. Link originally left Hyrule at the age of ten. He wandered in the wilderness by himself until the age of sixteen when he joined the Calrigan mercenaries. He fought for the mercenaries for four years. During that time Link fought in dozens of wars, but he rarely believed in the cause he was fighting for. Eventually he grew weary of the pointless conflicts he fought in, but it was not till fate led Link to Cyntir that he finally decided to leave the legionaries.

While looking for work for his mercenary companions, Link was stranded in the land of Cyntir. Link soon learned of the war between Cyntir and its northern neighbor Tyfiria. By sheer chance, Link stumbled on to the plot of a vengeful Tyfirian general named Ormek. Ormek located and then stole what was the apparent fourth Triforce piece, the Triforce of Knowledge. Link then set out on a quest to retrieve a relic, which would return the Triforce of Knowledge to its rightful place, but by the time Link got back to Cyntir, he found that Ormek was already dangerously close to destroying that country. At one point, the Calrigans had a chance to aid the Cyntirians and push back Ormek's forces, but because they were not paid to help, they allowed a large majority of Cyntir's populous to be carried off captive. Link was successful in defeating Ormek, but afterwards he could not bear to continue fighting for a group of people who only cared about money. Link left the Calrigans with a resolve to return to Hyrule.

When he finally made his way back to Hyrule, he first headed for Hyrule Castle, the place where he first met the princess Zelda. When he arrived at the main gate of Hyrule Castle Town he suddenly froze. Memories came flooding back to him of when the princess sent him his quest to save Hyrule from the clutches of Ganondorf and of his ultimate failure when he led the king of evil to Sacred Realm and the Triforce. All the memories Link had been running from for ten years all caught up with him at that instant, but it was not his memories that drove the hero from his native land. Link forced himself to face his demons and enter the city.

By coincidence the warrior arrived on a day the princess was out in the marketplace mingling with her people and shopping for various items. Link spied her from a distance. She was more beautiful than the hero's fondest memory of her. It seemed to Link as if though she was from a distant dream, forgotten long ago. The princess's long golden hair was illuminated by the noonday sun and gave her an angelic aura. Every step she took was poetry in motion, but nothing affected Link more than the smile he saw on Zelda's face. It was apparent to the hero that she was not weighed down with all the cares that he carried with him. Nor did it seem that any of the villagers were concerned with much other than finishing their daily chores. They could never understand the horrors Link had experienced all his life. It was then that Link was overcome with the feeling that he did not belong in a land as peaceful and as full of beauty as Hyrule. He finally understood he had outgrown the fair country.

Link then left his native land with a vow never to return. He wandered aimlessly throughout the known world for a little under a year, never taking up a permanent residence; his only home became the road. Eventually, Link's travels brought him to Acromiar. There he discovered that the Calrigan mercenaries had been contracted by the king of Acromiar to protect his people from the enormous infestation of demons sent by Siragoth. Link determined he could be of use to the Acromiarians and rejoined the Calrigans. He fought with the mercenaries till Acromiar's last stand against the Siragons. In that last battle, nearly every Acromiarian and all of Link's fellow mercenaries were killed by the demons of Siragoth.

After experiencing the carnage the Siragons caused, Link dedicated his life destroying them. As soon as Link learned of other Siragon invasions, he immediately set out for the land that was under attack. The Hyrulian had fought the demons during three of their first five raids. Link had been unable to stop them in any of those invasions and as he gazed in awe over the approaching Siragon army, he was confident he would fail yet again. There were at least ten thousand demons marching under the banner of Siragoth and though there were about eighteen thousand men defending Adorik, Link was certain it would not be enough to hold the fortress. For the demons possessed the weapons that Ormek of Tyfiria used in his war against Cyntir, but the hero prepared to meet them in battle nonetheless.

Where the Siragons obtained the weapons was unknown. However, sometime after Ormek's death, most of the blacksmiths the general used to mass-produce his creations disappeared. Most of the people who knew that the Siragons' weapons were based on Ormek's designs, believed the Siragons abducted those blacksmiths and forced them to recreate the Tyfirian general's weapons. Link, on the other hand, knew more of the actual story. Many of the weapons the Siragons used were actually more advanced than the ones Ormek created. For instance, the cannons the Siragons used were much lighter, more maneuverable, and were capable of firing much greater distances than the ones Ormek made, but before his death the general designed many weapons which he was unable to create before he began his assault on Cyntir. These designs were complied into a single volume that was kept in the main castle in Tamerec, Tyfiria's capital.

About six months after Ormek was defeated, the king of Acromiar, who was absolutely obsessed with having the world's most powerful army, sent a band of men to Tyfiria to steal that volume. The Acromiarians were successful in their attempts to secure Ormek's work, but when they got the volume back to Acromiar, they discovered they could not read it. Ormek had written it in some foreign language that the Acromiarians had never seen before. They tried to translate the text, but could not. It was actually the Acromiarians that abducted the blacksmiths who had worked with Ormek. After they were unable to translate the strange text, the king of Acromiar sent another band of men to kidnap the blacksmiths in hopes of developing the Tyfirian general's older weapons. It was at that time when the demon hordes first appeared.

Tyfiria was well aware that it was Acromiar that stole Ormek's notes and was frightened by what a nation as powerful of Acromiar could do with them. The Tyfirians then told the Cyntirians who had experienced the destructive capabilities of Ormek's weapons first hand and they both began to speak out against Acromiar. During the war against the demon hordes, Link and a group of soldiers rescued one of the king's chief advisers from a demon assault. The adviser was charged with protecting the manuscript, but he dropped it while fleeing from the demons. After the battle, Link found the book on the ground an instinctively began to flip through its pages. As he thumbed through the volume he realized the manuscript's importance. He tried to hide his knowledge from the king's adviser, but the adviser would not risk allowing anyone else to know about the book. He told the king of Acromiar about Link, who then ordered the Hyrulian and a band of his mercenaries on a suicide mission, but he underestimated Link's skill in battle. The hero managed to survive though all of his men were killed.

Link returned to Acromiar's capital, Marcom, after he realized the king had betrayed him to find it already under attack by an enormous mass of monsters. The Acromiarians managed to defeat the demon hordes, but they paid for the victory sorely, they lost most of Marcom's garrison during its defense. The Siragons then came in to finish the job. In that last battle, the Siragons managed steal the volume from the Acromiarians, but before they could leave the city with it, Link found the chieftain of the Siragons and retrieved the volume from him. The Hyrulian then destroyed the book by casting it into a nearby fire. However, the Siragons still managed to create much of the weaponry detailed in that book, but exactly how they did it was still a mystery to the hero.

The Siragons that were advancing towards Adorik had about seven dozen of their cannons in their arsenal. For that reason, Link did not expect the Carthorians would be victorious, and yet he still prepared to meet the demons in battle.

Once the Siragons were within a cannon's shot of Adorik's outer wall they halted; yet one of the Rimgard Siragons proceeded to walk towards the fortress. On his back, the Siragon carried two swords as well as a black bow and a quiver of arrows. Not an ounce of the Siragon's flesh was exposed, for the black cloth of the Rimgard covered him from the chin down and his grey steel helmet hid his face from his foes. His helmet was of a strange craft and was far more ornate than the rest of the beasts' head gear. The helmet's design was and indication of the Siragon's rank and was the only thing that separated him from the rest of his troops save his eyes. This particular Siragon's eyes appeared to burn with a hellish red flame, which seemed to testify of the creature's destructive intent. The demon continued to approach Adorik until he was well with in the range of the Carthorian archers' arrows. The Siragon then lifted his hands over his head and spoke.

"Greetings soldiers of the fair realm of Carthor," The demon said in a friendly tone, "I am general Mygar of Siragoth. I come before you this night to prevent the spilling of much blood. For I see in your eyes a great deal of fear. Rest assured my troops and I did not come to this land with the intent to destroy it and its people. We merely came in search of one of the black stones of Malikar, which the king of Carthor possesses. This stone is of great religious significance to my people. If you value your lives, you will surrender the stone to us. If you cooperate, my men and I will depart from this land in peace and leave the Carthorians to their own affairs, but if you refuse, we will not hesitate to destroy your fortress and kill all those that stand in our path to the stone!"

"Do not think us fools, hateful Mygar!" king Hakama retorted as he stepped out from behind his men, "I know the stone which you seek must contain some malicious power, for the Siragons seek only the destruction of all civilization! If I gave you the stone you may depart for a day, yes, but you would soon return and with the power given to you by stone and you would consume this land and all its beauty! The dark stone is not safe in the hands of a loathsome creature like you! My people will fight to the death to prevent it from falling into your hands!"

"So be it!" Mygar yelled in anger, "You condemn yourself and your men to death, for their can be no victory against the armies of Siragoth!" Mygar then turned his back to Adorik and began to walk back towards the other Siragons. One of the archers atop Adorik's outer wall caught the demon's mistake and quickly strung an arrow. He shot at the Siragon aiming for his back, but before the arrow reached its mark, Mygar drew one of his swords, spun around, and deflected the dart with his blade. The arrow fell uselessly to the ground in two pieces. Mygar glared at the archer who had tried to kill him.

The Siragon growled and under his breath he said, "Such is the honor of men." He then pointed his sword towards the fortress of Adorik and roared. The rest of the Siragons answered with a roar of their own, eager to begin the bloodshed.

"Load the cannons and get them into position." Mygar ordered. The demons immediately sprung into action loading their firearms and pointing them towards their pre-designated targets. Once the Siragons were ready, Mygar gave the command. "Open fire!" he shouted. Link tightened his grip on his sword as he heard the first cannon shot fired. He had seen the cannons in action many times before and still had not seen an effective way to defend against them. As the first cannonball crashed through Adorik's main gate, Link wished the Cathorians possessed cannons of their own to return fire but as of yet, the only nation with such weapons was Tyfiria and even they were having trouble using the ones they had.

"Return fire!" captain Aramoth ordered his men who quickly strung their arrows and began to shoot at the demons, but none of the darts found their mark. The Siragons were too far away to be hit by arrows, but they were just close enough that their cannon fire could devastate Adorik's outer defenses. Nearly every shot that the Siragons fired was dead on. Either they landed atop the battlements amidst the Cathorian soldiers or tore through the wall itself as they knocked out key support beams beneath the stone, which caused large portions of the wall to crumble.

Link watched helplessly as men all around him were blown off the wall or fell to their deaths as they floor gave way from under them. He soon grew impatient with waiting for cannon fire to claim his life and left his post in search of king Hakama. The king was holding his position atop Adorik's main gate, which for some reason the Siragons had not yet fired upon since the first cannon ball broke through the bottom of the gate.

"Sire!" Link yelled once he found Hakama, "You must order you men to retreat, they will not last much longer against the cannons of Siragoth."

"Who are you that I, the king of Carthor, should give heed to your orders?" Hakama asked cruelly, angry that a mere peasant would have the gall to command him to do anything.

"One who has fought the Siragons many times before," Link answered, "I know how these creatures fight. They will not advance on the fortress until the top of the wall has been cleared. It will profit us nothing to stay up here. The Siragons are out of our range, but we are not out of theirs. We need to draw them towards us, so that we may at least have a chance to kill them."

"And how do you suggest we do that, green stranger?" Hakama asked smugly.

"By pulling back," Link replied, "If we pull off the wall the Siragons will have no choice, but to send their troops into the fortress after us and when they do we can send our troops to meet them in hand-to-hand combat."

Hakama pondered the Hyrulian's proposal for a few moments before he turned to Aramoth and asked, "What do you think captain?"

"We have to do something, soon or we'll all be slaughtered before the enemy suffers a single casualty." Aramoth responded.

"Very well," Hakama nodded, "Aramoth, give the order."

"Yes sir," Aramoth said. He then proceeded to shout out the order to fall back. Shortly after the captain gave the command, Link took him aside and told him another of his plans that could hold of the Siragons back, if only for a moment. The soldiers were more than happy to get off the wall, for they already saw the futility of holding their positions. Within minutes, the Cathorians had deserted the wall and rallied around king Hakama. Link, however did not join them. He remained atop the wall, so low to the ground that the Siragons could not see him. Captain Aramoth and four other Carthorians followed Link's, example by Aramoth's orders.

Once the Siragons saw Adorik's wall was free of any Hylian presence, they began to march towards the fortress. When the demons came to Adorik's walls they halted once more.

"Bombers!" Mygar called out. Soon a pair of Siragons emerged from the ranks carrying a large round black object. Before the Siragons could get the object to Adorik's gate, Link jumped up from behind the battlements with a flaming arrow already strung in his bow and fired it a the strange orb. The arrow struck the object, which then exploded with enough force to kill dozens of surrounding Siragons and wound dozens more. Aramoth and his men then sprung from their spots and began to pour vats of boiling oil on top of the hosts of Siragons gathered around Adorik's gate. The Siragons panicked and began to retreat.

"What are you doing you cowards?" Mygar yelled, "There are only six of them." With that Mygar drew his bow and strung three arrows at once. The demon smirked beneath the faceplate of his helmet as he released the arrows. Incredibly all three of them proved lethal as each one pierced a Carthorian soldier.

"Fall back," Link commanded. He, Aramoth, and the last remaining soldier then ran to join the rest of the Carthorian troops at the bottom of the wall. After seeing Mygar land three fatal shots at once, the Siragons regained their composure and marched back to the wall. Soon another pair of demons emerged from the ranks carrying yet another bomb. This time, they made it to the gate and placed the bomb on the ground. The two Siragons then drew a pair of axes and began to chip away at the hole in the gate made by the initial cannon shot. Within a minute the hole was as large as the bomb. The demons put the explosive in place and ran back towards the hosts of Siragoth. After the rest of the Siragons backed away from the wall, one of the creatures fired a flaming arrow of his own at the bomb. It then exploded with enough punch to destroy the entire gate. Before the smoke even cleared, the Siragons rushed inside Adorik, but as soon as they got passed the broken gate they were met with a flurry of arrows. Many of the Siragons were slain as they tried to enter the fortress, but there were far too many of them to be held back with arrows alone.

Soon a wave of demons crashed against the Carthorians front lines and the two races engaged in hand-to-hand combat. At first the Carthorians were crippled by terror. They were too terrified by the fearsome looking Siragons to put up a good defensive front. Link on the other hand was eager to fight and lessen the numbers of his enemies even if only by a little. He drew his sword and shield and assumed a defensive stance as he watched the demons of Siragoth charge towards him. As the first demon lunged at Link, the hero stepped aside and the beast missed his target completely. Link responded by slicing the back of the beast's neck before he had a chance to recover from his mistake and dark blue blood then shot from the wound. As soon as Link felled the first Siragon, another one swung at the Hylian with a large blade in an attempt to avenge his fallen comrade, but Link managed to deflect the blow with his shield impale the demon beneath his ribs with his sword.

Many of the Carthorians who saw Link kill the two Siragons were inspired by his courage and soon they forgot their terror and remembered what they were fighting for. The men of Carthor experienced a domino effect as the men who were inspired by Link inspired others. Soon, almost all of the Cathorians regained their composure and began to fight with a renewed zeal.

Before long the Carthorians started to drive the demons back, they had almost managed to force the Siragons back through the gate when general Mygar yelled "Grenades!" Moments later the Siragons began to toss black spherical objects the size of doorknobs into the midst of the Carthorian ranks. Mere seconds after the objects hit the ground they exploded and cast out wave sharp metal debris in every direction at tremendous speeds. The metal fragments managed to tear through the Carthorians armor with ease and with each grenade that went off, two or three Carthorians were injured or killed.

The Siragons' new weapon sent the Hylian soldiers into a panic. The Carthorians soon fled from the Siragons, hoping to find cover away from the demons' horrible invention. Even Link was flustered and he soon found himself running from the enemy, for he had never seen the Siragons use such a weapon before and did not have a strategy ready to counteract its use.

"Fall back to the keep!" king Hakama cried in a desperate attempt to rally his men as he saw them fleeing before their foes.

"No!" Link shouted as he ran towards Hakama, "We can not retreat. Once the Siragons box us in the keep they will start to use their cannons again. We must stay at close range with the Siragons, where their weapons are less effective." Link's words fell on deaf ears. The Carthorians were too anxious to get away from the Siragons to pay any attention to the strange foreigner.

"No," Hakama replied coldly. "The fires of Siragoth may be strong, but they will not find us in the tower of Adorik. We will hold them off in there."

"No tower can protect you from the evil these demons possess," Link growled angrily.

"I am king!" Hakama yelled, "It is my charge to protect my people! If I leave my men out here they will die! If you wish to stay out here and perish that is your choice, interloper. As for me, I believe our best chance for survival is in the tower."

Within a few minutes, nearly all of the soldiers in Adorik had entered the keep. After seeing that neither the soldiers nor the king would listen to his advice, Link reluctantly followed the rest of the men.

"Barricade the entrance!" king Hakama ordered, "The Siragons will not enter this place." The Carthorians obeyed with out question and began to pile whatever they could find in front of the keep's door. Although Link did not believe the Carthorians had much, if any, chance to hold off the demons of Siragoth at bay, he did what he could to aid them the soldiers in barring the entrance.

For several minutes, the Carthorians fortified the keep door uninterrupted, until they heard the thunderous crack of one of the Siragon's cannons. A large iron ball then plowed through the tower's gate as well as a couple of soldiers. Soon afterwards three more balls broke through the door in the same manner.

"Your majesty," captain Aramoth said to his king, "No doubt the Siragons will break into our stronghold. They will be after the dark stone. You can not let these monsters get their claws on it. Please, your highness, make your way to the roof of the tower. I would not have the Siragons win their prize so easily. They will lose many more soldiers before they reach the top, but they will take the entryway in a matter of moments." Hakama simply nodded and then headed up a nearby flight of stairs unnoticed by his men.

Less than a minute later, the Siragons blew open the tower's gate with another well placed bomb and then they poured in through the entryway. As Hakama heard the explosion he quickened his pace, so that he might reach safety in the group of men that he had been stationed on top of the tower before the battle began. However, when Hakama arrived he found only the corpses of his men lying on a blood drenched stone floor and general Mygar looking over the fallen soldiers. The demon held one sword in each hand, both of which were stained with blood of the Cathorians. As the Siragon looked up from the bodies of his victims, his burning red eyes paralyzed Hakama with horror.

"Your men were so busy watching the battle in front of them that they forgot to watch their backs," Mygar said without a shred of emotion. He then pointed to the side of the tower opposite of the side the Siragons were attacking from with one of his blades. Hakama looked over to see a black grappling hook latched to the tower's battlements.

"Where is the stone?" Mygar then asked abruptly. King Hakama did not say a word, but instead he drew his sword and prepared to fight the Siragon.

"It is not safe in your keeping," Mygar said as he began to approach the king slowly. "I can protect the relic from my brethren better than you. For the armies of Sokor suppose me to be on their side and will think it safe so long as I possess it, but if you keep it, the Ulgerons of Siragoth will never stop hunting you. Not until they take what they seek." Hakama was confused by Mygar's words, but he quickly put the demon's statement out of his mind, and again he concentrated on protecting the dark stone. Without warning, Hakama lunged at Mygar with his sword, but the Siragon easily turned the king's blade aside with one of his swords.

"Do actually think to challenge me?" Mygar laughed, "You are indeed a brave man, but very foolish still." As the Siragon spoke more anger began to swell within Hakama until he finally swung at his adversary with all of his strength, but Mygar was to fast. He ducked beneath the king's sword and then with a quick slash of his blade, he sliced off Hakama's hand. The king let out a cry of pain and then fell onto his back as blood began to drip from his wrist.

Mygar sheathed his swords after he saw Hakama would not give him any more trouble. He then walked over to the king and knelt beside him.

"Fear not," Mygar said, "For your soul will help me stay the darkness that consumes my mind."

* * *

"Hold your ground!" Aramoth cried as swarm of demons burst through the gate of Adorik's tower. The soldiers of Carthor quickly drew their weapons ready to repel the invaders and as the first Siragons emerged from the door, the tower's defenders hewed them down as they entered. The demons continued to send more warriors to face the Cathorians, but surprisingly they were unable to push the Hylians back, but the Carthorians could not force the Siragons back either. 

The Siragons tactics confused Link at this point. It was not like them to simply throw troops at their enemies. They rarely tried to achieve victory with only brute strength. They usually attempted to use their cunning or superior weaponry to destroy their opponents. Link wondered why the Siragons had suddenly changed their strategy as he helped the Carthorians hold the demons at bay. Before long he remembered seeing king Hakama fly up the stairs before the Siragons broke into the keep.

"It's a distraction!" Link gasped. The hero then fell back to the stairs to follow the king, but not before he killed a couple more Siragons that tried to stop him from leaving the fray. Once Link reached the stairs, he began to run up them as fast as he could manage, hoping that Hakama had not fallen into the Siragons trap, whatever it was. When he reached the roof of the tower, Link saw that he was already too late. To his horror he saw general Mygar kneeling over the king with a black obsidian rock in his right hand.

"You," Mygar said in shock once he saw the Hyrulian, "How long has it been Link? Two and a half years since we last fought. I have anxiously been awaiting the day I would meet you again. For much like the king, you possess something I desperately need." Link growled loudly as he pointed his sword at Mygar.

"I have not stopped fighting against you and your kind since the fall of Acromiar," Link said angrily, "I have seen all the devastation you and your troops have caused. There could be no punishment great enough for your crimes against this world, but I will be content with your death."

"You are a fool, Link," Mygar replied somberly, "You concern yourself so much with the past that you are blind to the future. If you only knew the fate that awaits this world, you would cease to mourn those who are dead, but instead you would pity those who still live, for their doom is far worse. But you can still save the living, by surrendering your soul and the great magic in your keeping, to me." Without another word Mygar swung at Link with one of his blades, but the hero put up his shield and blocked the blow. Link then tried to stab Mygar with the tip of his sword, but the Siragon jumped back before he was run through. The demon then began to swing both of his blades simultaneously. Link suddenly found himself backing up as he desperately tried to block every swing Mygar took at him. The hero soon realized he was swiftly tiring and that he needed to change his strategy or more specifically his weapon, but there was not enough space atop the tower for him to create a large enough distance between himself and Mygar to do so.

Link tried desperately to get away from the Siragon, but could not. His muscles began to burn, as Mygar's attacks seemed to become more frequent and powerful. Link thought he would lose the battle until he heard the voice of Aramoth and many other Carthorian soldiers coming up the stairwell.

"Your majesty," Aramoth cried, "the Siragons are retreating!" The day is ours!" Once Mygar realized dozens of Carthorians were coming to Link's aid he backed away from the Hylian. "We shall meet again," the demon said, "but next time we will finish the fight we started in Acromiar and if you lose then, I will take the golden relic of the so called gods that you posses." Link was stunned by Mygar's statement.

"Does he know that I am the keeper of the Triforce of Courage?" Link thought to himself. Before Link could ponder the question any further, Mygar leapt back to the place he left his grappling hook and slid down the rope. Link rushed to the edge of the tower and tried to cut the rope from the hook, but Mygar reached the ground before he could. The demon then ran off to join his retreating troops.

Seconds later Aramoth and a dozen other soldiers arrived at the top of the tower. "No!" Aramoth cried when he saw his king lying motionless on the ground. He ran over to Hakama and knelt beside him.

"Thank the goddesses," the Carthorian captain said as he felt Hakama's breath on his face. "He's not dead."

"He is not alive either," Link said grimly as he watched the Siragons flee from Adorik.

"What do you mean?" Aramoth asked.

"General Mygar has taken his soul," Link answered turning his gaze to the fallen monarch. "By what means I do not know, but I have seen it happen many times before. Your king will not awaken, but his body will remain alive so long as it is cared for." Aramoth looked up at Link with a look of dread.

"Is there nothing we can do to save him?" Aramoth inquired.

"I do not know," Link replied, "but it may be possible to retrieve Hakama's soul from Mygar. If we can find him that is."

"The Siragons will pay sorely for their trespasses against Carthor," Aramoth whispered under his breath. He then stood up and spoke to his men with an authoritative tone. "We have defended Adorik from the Siragons, but in doing so we have lost our king. But we may still save him if capture the Siragon general. For too long the Siragons have terrorized the nations of the east and none have stood against them. Only when the Siragons came to us did we fight against them. We did not aid the other countries that were attacked by Siragoth. We were too concerned with our own affairs, but no longer will we stand idly by as those demons run rampant. The Siragons will strike again and when they do, we will ride to their foe's aid. We will destroy the Siragons and take back our king's soul. Now all of you see to king Hakama, we must bandage his wounds.

"Yes sir," them men all responded. Two of the soldiers then carefully picked up king Hakama and carried him to a lower chamber where they bandaged his wrist.

Once all of the soldiers had left, Aramoth turned to Link and said in a commanding voice, "You will accompany us when we learn of the next place the Siragons will attack."

"I am not a soldier of Carthor,' Link said in an irritated tone, "I am not obligated to obey your commands."

"You know much about the Siragons and their ways," Aramoth said in a more friendly tone. "While it is true, you do not have to listen to my orders, I do not see why you would not join us in hunting those foul demons. After all, you came to Adorik of your own freewill to help us in our fight against them. Will you abandon us now?"

"No," Link sighed, "I have followed the Siragons this far and I will follow them to wherever they go next, but I will not stay in Carthor while I wait for my enemies to strike again. I plan to travel to other lands to see if I can not discover some sort of information as to where the Siragons will next appear."

"Very well stranger, I hope that when my men and I next face the demons of Siragoth I will meet you again." Aramoth said, he then began to walk away, but turned to Link before he descended the stairs and said, "Your hatred for the Siragons must be very strong if you have fought them as many times as you claim and you still pursue them."

"It is not hatred that drives me," Link said to himself as Aramoth left him alone on the roof of Adorik's tower amongst the bodies of more than a dozen dead Carthorians, "It is fear."


	2. Chapter Two: A Call for Aid

**Chapter Two: A Call for Aid**

"Princess, it is time to get up," Impa said as she entered Zelda's chamber and pulled back a set of curtains, allowing the early morning sun to rush in through the window. Zelda stretched out her limbs wearily and squinted her eyes as the sunlight reached her face. She drowsily sat up and looked at Impa as though she had not slept for one minute during the night.

"What's wrong?" Impa asked, "Didn't you get enough sleep last night?"

"I did," Zelda answered, "but I had this strange dream. I couldn't make sense of it. I was standing in a field I didn't recognize. Off in the distance there was a mountain range and above the range were some storm clouds. The clouds began to spread over the field until they came to a forest on the southern edge of the field and then all but one of them dissipated. The wind changed and carried the last cloud to the east and over an ocean where it began to rain over a grey desert. On the ground where it rained, a shadow formed. It was small at first, but it soon began to move from place to place and each time in moved, it grew larger until it returned to the spot where it originated.

"The shadow then began to move north over a large body of water to an island and the cloud followed it. In the middle of the island there was a fortress, but many snowcapped mountains hid it. Once the shadow finally came to the fortress the storm cloud began to glow with a strange light. The light shinned only on the edges of the shadow, but slowly the darkness started to recede. Yet before the light could do much, darkness formed with the cloud and turned it all to black until only one spot of light was left. As soon as the cloud was dimmed, the shadow consumed the fortress and then the darkness erupted and covered the world.

"What do you suppose the dream means?" Zelda asked her attendant as she rose to her feet.

"I do not know," Impa replied, "but it seems to me to be some kind of ill omen."

"I wonder if the forest is a symbol…" the princess stopped mid sentence as she realized her nursemaid was staring inquisitively at her.

"A symbol for what?" The Sheikah woman asked.

"Nothing," Zelda said bashfully, "I was just thinking out loud, that's all."

"Link," Impa said abruptly, "Is that what you think the forest is a symbol of?"

"No," Zelda said as she shook her head gently, "It could mean so many other things. It could not be Link. No one has seen him for thirteen years."

"I suppose you're right," Impa replied, "He could be dead for all we know."

"No," Zelda snapped, "He isn't dead, he's alive. I know it." Zelda held the back of her right hand in front of her and gazed intently at the symbol of the Triforce.

"Somehow, the Triforce of Wisdom tells me he still lives," the princess said in a softer tone. "But if he is alive, why has he not returned to Hyrule? Doesn't he know that…" Zelda mumbled the last few words of her sentence so softly that even Impa with her acute hearing could not understand her words. Impa saw that the princess was drifting into a depression. The same depression she fell into every time she thought of the boy from the forest.

"Come now princess," Impa said in a cheerful tone, "That's enough talk about dreams. I'm sure it will make sense to you soon enough, but we don't have time to analyze it now. We have to prepare for the ball tonight. Remember your father put you in charge of organizing it and there is still much to do before it starts tonight."

"Organizing a ball, what an honorable charge that is," Zelda said sarcastically. "The only reason my father wants to throw this celebration is so I can find a husband."

"And what is wrong with that?" Impa asked even though she did not expect to receive an answer. "Your father is worried about you princess. You are already twenty-three years old, and still unmarried."

"There are many people who are not married by my age," Zelda retorted, "Why is it such a problem then that I remain unwed?"

"It is not common for a woman of your standing to wait so long before taking a husband," Impa answered.

"I know," Zelda sighed, "I just wish father could understand I'm not ready yet."

"Will you at least try to humor your father tonight?" Impa asked. "At least act like you are enjoying yourself."

"I will try," Zelda said, "but it is frustrating having to put up with those awful princes from our neighboring countries. I swear, they think they are the sun itself simply because they are royalty. I can not see how they can think themselves so much greater than their people. Some of the most honorable men who ever lived were of the lowest birth." Impa knew exactly who Zelda was referring to, but she did not react to the princess's comment.

After Zelda dressed, she and Impa proceeded to the hall where that night's celebration was to be held. The princess oversaw everything from decorations to the evening's feast, the whole time wishing she could be doing something more important. She recalled the events when she helped the sages and the hero of time, imprison the evil Gerudo king Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm. During that time she was doing something worthwhile, something admirable, instead of organizing some frivolous ball for no real reason, but the question that kept creeping into her mind was when had she done those admirable things? She did not know if it was six or thirteen years ago or if she had really done anything at all.

Zelda remembered hazily the seven years between the time Ganondorf managed to steal the Triforce of Power and the time Link defeated the Gerudo king, but she had trouble determining whether or not those things had ever happened. To her the seven years of the alternate past seemed to be a strange dream, which she had when she was ten years old. All of the sages had a similar experience. They had a recollection of the alternate past, but they knew they never actually did the things they remembered from that time frame, at least not in the reality they now knew.

Zelda had spent hundreds of hours trying to comprehend exactly what she had and had not done. She would have gone mad had it not been for Impa. Her attendant was the sage of shadow and had experienced the same confusion Zelda and the other sages had. By talking with Impa and the other sages the princess managed to find a certain degree of closure. It was a luxury, which Link did not have. The hero of time actually lived through the alternate past and then the real one. Link was not confused as to whether or not he had done certain things. He did all of the things he remembered. Not even the sages remembered the Hyrule's alternate history the way he did. The only person who could fully comprehend Link's adventure was the guardian fairy Navi who followed him in his journey through time, but she left the hero when he completed his task and defeated Ganondorf. After a short time of trying to deal with the alternate past on his own, Link left Hyrule in search of his fairy companion. He hoped that if he could find her he might have someone who could understand him and what he had been through, some one who could help him preserve his sanity. Zelda never saw or heard from Link again after that.

For the most part Zelda was a cheery person. It was only when she thought of the boy from the forest that she slipped out of that happiness. The princess longed to see Link again, to have some form of conformation that he was okay. She felt guilty for what happened to him. She thought she was responsible for Link's inner turmoil. After all she was the one who sent him on the quest to stop Ganondorf. Zelda always felt deep down, that if she had not sent Link on that quest he would have been able to lead a normal life. If she had never sent him to get the Triforce before Ganondorf, he would have never pulled the Master Sword from the pedestal of time. Ganondorf never would have captured the Triforce of Power and Link never would have been sealed away in the Sacred Realm for seven years.

Zelda also knew Link blamed himself for what happened to Hyrule. He thought because he led Ganondorf to the Triforce he was at fault for Hyrule's destruction and the death and torment of thousands of people in the alternate past. After Link completed his quest, Zelda tried to explain to him that it was truly Ganondorf who was responsible for all the suffering of Hyrule's people. She also tried to point out that because no one remembered the alternate history they could not remember their sufferings either, but the princess's words did nothing to help the hero forgive himself. Zelda wondered where Link was at that moment. She wished she could understand why her old friend never returned to Hyrule, but she knew she would probably never receive an answer.

Though Zelda was less than thrilled with her appointed task, Hyrule castle was soon ready for the night's festivities. With the castle prepared, the princess then preceded to prepare herself for the event. She quickly bathed and then dressed herself in a gown made of the finest silk the world had to offer. Her ladies in waiting then brushed her hair and braided portions of it in a highly elegant style. Once she was ready she proceeded to the ballroom and greeted her father who was already waiting for her and dressed in his royal attire.

"Ah, my dear Zelda," the king of Hyrule said as he welcomed his daughter with a hug, "You grow more beautiful by the day. I dare say that I have the most gorgeous daughter in the world. The man that you choose to marry will be considered the luckiest man in existence."

"Father," Zelda sighed, wishing to comment on her marital status, but instead chose to remain silent. She did not wish upset her father, but the king knew his child well enough that he discerned the princess's protest in a word.

"I know you feel you are not ready to wed and I am sure you have guessed the true purpose of this ball, but you must understand Zelda, I want to make sure you find someone who will take care of you when I am gone.

"I can take care of myself," Zelda replied somewhat harshly, "I do not need some arrogant prince to protect me. I can handle myself. In fact I'd wager I have more skill with a sword than any prince who shows up tonight. I've spent more time training with weapons than any of them."

"That's not what I mean," the king said in an apologetic tone. "I meant that you would be taken care of emotionally. I want to see you happy."

"Why should I be happy?" Zelda asked sternly, "many people in the world are miserable. Why should I know happiness simply because I am royalty?" The king then gave Zelda a disappointed look and the princess quickly apologized, "I am sorry father, it's just, I've had a lot on my mind today." Zelda then spotted Malon, a girl from a nearby ranch and one of Zelda's few friends who was neither one of her attendants nor one of the sages of Hyrule. Knowing that her father would have her mingling with self-obsessed prince for a large portion of the evening, Zelda took leave of the king and went over to visit with Malon.

"I wish I knew what was troubling her, Impa," the Hyrulian king said to the Sheikah woman who was dressed more like she was going to war than to a ball.

"Don't worry too much about her sire," Impa pleaded. "Lately the princess has been worried about a friend of hers."

"Wait, let me guess," the king interrupted, "It's that boy from the forest." Impa simply nodded indicating to the king that he was correct. "Zelda sure thinks a lot about that boy considering she only knew him for a few months over a decade ago," the king continued.

"Yes well, it seemed like much longer to Zelda," Impa said. With out another word the king knew what the Sheikah meant.

"Still," the king said, "It is clear that boy does not care about my daughter, otherwise he would have made some attempt to contact her in the last thirteen years."

"I feel the same way," Impa replied, "though I would not admit it to the princess, I just wish she could accept the fact that he is never going to comeback to Hyrule."

Meanwhile on the other side of the hall, Zelda was busy conversing with Malon. Soon after Link left, Zelda became friends with the farm girl and almost everyone else who knew the hero of time in an attempt to get to know him better through having common friends. After Zelda and Malon talked with one another for a little over a quarter hour, Zelda's father whisked the princess away and took her to greet all the royalty from nearby lands that had come to enjoy the nights events.

For Zelda, the evening seemed to pass by like a snail inching its way across an ocean of molasses, and the night went almost exactly like she predicted. She first was forced to meet with various princes from other lands. Once all the guests had arrived, they sat down to an enormous feast courtesy of the king of Hyrule. During the meal the princess saw many familiar faces. She spotted Darunia, the big boss of the Gorons, Ruto the Zora princess, and Nabooru who had led the Gerudo ever since their king, Ganondorf, vanished over thirteen years ago. Those three individuals were sages of Hyrule and people Zelda knew very well. The only sages that did not attend the ball were Saria, who rarely left the forest and Rauru, whose place of residence was in the Sacred Realm. Zelda sat next to the sages during the feast and talked about many things with them including her dream. During that time she felt she was in her proper place, a feeling she did not get around the princes her father had introduced her to.

After the feast the main event took place as the guests proceeded to the ballroom to dance. Zelda found that the princes were arguing amongst themselves for the pleasure a dancing with her. Zelda hid her disgust and wished the night would end as the men tried in vain to win her affection.

Midway through the ball the captain of the king's guard entered the room, walked over to the monarch and whispered something into his ear. The king immediately left the room once the guard finished his message. Zelda noticed the exchange and decided to follow her father and find out what the captain had said, but at the time she was stuck dancing with one of the princes. Rather than finish the dance, the princess decided to feign weariness. She told the man she was with that she needed to get some fresh air. The prince offered to go with her, but she gracefully declined. Zelda followed her father out of the room, but she did not allow her presence to be detected by the king, instead she stayed out of sight.

The captain of the guard led the king to a man who was standing outside the ballroom in a wide hall. The captain introduced the man as a herald of prince Anthros of Asrenath. At first Zelda thought the man had come to talk about her, as princes often sent their heralds to inquire about her hand in marriage, but as the princess listened she learned that the man's message was of a much more urgent nature.

"Your majesty," the messenger said with a bow as he saw the king. "I come to you by order of my master, prince Anthros, to humbly request your help. As you are no doubt aware a sudden infestation of a band of demons known as the Siragons has plagued the eastern lands for the last two and a half years." Zelda was a bit confused by what exactly the Siragons were. She had never actually seen one, but she had heard many awful tales about the creatures. Fortunately for Hyrule, no Siragon had ever been spotted within or near its borders, something Zelda was very grateful for.

"These beasts have destroyed many nations and terrorized the people of the east," the messenger continued. "It was these foul creatures that were responsible for the fall of Acromiar and its great army. Long did king Tarreus of Asrenath try to rid his land the scourge of the Siragons, but alas the grey desert of Siragoth, from which the demons come, is right on Asrenath's borders and recently the population of the Siragons has exploded." As soon as the herald mentioned the grey desert, Zelda wondered if the desert in her dream the previous night was Siragoth and if the Siragons were what was represented by the shadow.

"My king tried to flush the demons out of the desert," the herald said to the king, "but the black mountains surrounding Siragoth have made the land difficult to conquer and have allowed the demons to stay Asrenath's mighty army.

"During a battle with the Siragons, the king was stricken with a terrible illness and has been in a deep sleep for many months. Since that time my lord Anthros has led his father's armies against Siragoth with little successes.

"Recently though, the Siragons attacked Cathor. They destroyed much of the Carthorian army and the king was also stricken with the same illness our king suffers from now. Carthor is now in shambles as a result of the Siragon invasion. It has been reported by Asrean spies that the Siragon army that invaded Carthor has made its way to the island of Lorshimnen. Since that time, prince Anthros has been sending word to all free nations of the known world and to ask for their help. He believes that if the army in Lorshimnen is put down, the forces of Siragoth will be weak enough to be forced out of Siragoth by our troops and be destroyed once and for all.

"Your prince is very bold indeed if he thinks he can unite the nations of this world," the king of Hyrule said, "To my knowledge the Siragons have not yet been met with a unified opposition. What makes Anthros think he can rally the world against them now?'

"Because," the herald replied, "a few months ago the Siragons located what the Lorshimnenites believe to be to be the fortress Ulron-Chi,"

As soon as Zelda heard the name of Ulron-Chi, she concluded that her dream was indeed a warning about the Siragons. The princess did not know much about the fortress, all of her knowledge concerning the ancient structure came from a single passage she stumbled across when she was studying legends from other lands. According to legend, a small army of composed Hylians and Sheikah managed to hold off an army twenty times its size for ten years. After the Hylians and the Sheikah finally defeated their enemies the goddesses blessed the fortress and placed inside it a great treasure. After the war the Hylians and the Sheikah began to quarrel over the treasure and they raised their weapons against one another. The two races fought each other until less than a dozen men remained on each side. After witnessing so much bloodshed on account of Ulron-Chi's great treasure, the king of the Hylians and the king of the Sheikah agreed that the treasure should not be possessed by either race. So the two kings left the fortress and decided never to return, but in doing so the location of Ulron-Chi was lost.

"What?!" the king replied in astonishment. "I thought Ulron-Chi was merely a myth. Men have sought that fortress for thousands of years and never found it.

"Fortunately, the men of Lorshimnen managed to posses the fortress before the Siragons and they were also able to defend it against the demons' initial onslaught.

"Tell me," the king of Hyrule said anxiously, "what of the treasure that was rumored to be held there?"

"The Lorshimnenites found no valuables in Ulron-Chi," answered the herald.

"Let the Siragons take the fortress then," said the king in a huff. "If there is nothing of value there, what does it matter?"

"Prince Anthros is worried that if the Siragons take Ulron-Chi, we will never be able to rid the world of them."

"Father," said Zelda in a respectful yet authoritative tone as she revealed herself, "I think we should aid the Asreans and the Lorshimnenites."

"Why?" the king asked, seeming somewhat cross with his daughter for eaves dropping on him. Zelda then took her father aside and explained to him her dream and how she believed it meant they should help in the fight against the Siragons.

"In the past when I have ignored your prophetic dreams, many evil things have occurred," the king said quietly to his daughter. "Very well, we shall send troops to aid them." The king then left his daughter's side, to tell Anthros's messenger his decision.

"I think there is something else the Siragons are after other than a place to hold off their enemies," Zelda said beneath her breath.

* * *

Link sat up in a cold sweat as he awoke from another nightmare. The Hyrulian tried to calm himself down as the images from his dream forced their way into his conscious mind. It was not uncommon for Link to have nightmares, but the one he had just awoken from was particularly disturbing. 

In his dream he stood amongst a large army made up of Calrigan mercenaries. Off in the distance a host of Siragons was marching towards Link and his men. When the Siragons attacked, Link discovered that he was paralyzed. He watched helplessly as the Siragons slaughtered his army, but as the troop's numbers diminished, Link realized that the army was also composed of other people from his past. One by one the hero watched the people, who were once his friends, slain by the demons of Siragoth, while they cried out Link's name, begging for his help, but the hero could still not move.

The last person the Siragons killed was Saria, Link's best friend growing up. They grabbed her from behind and slit her throat as she ran towards Link calling out for him. He tried to move, but his muscles did not respond. Once the entire army was destroyed, one of the Siragons walked up to Link and said, "Some hero you turned out to be." The Siragons then left him alone with the hacked and hewn bodies of his former friends and allies.

When Link awoke he found himself utterly alone in the midst of a dark forest. Neither his old friends nor the Siragons were anywhere to be seen. The only creature remotely near him was his horse Epona who was sleeping on the other side of a smoldering fire pit. Link stood up and began to pace as he tried to remove the images of the dream from his mind. After a few minutes Link laid back down on the hard ground. He had no pillow or even a blanket. His bed was the earth. Fortunately it was a warm night, so he had no use for such things.

As Link tried to get back to sleep, the graphic images of thousands of dead people managed to creep back into his mind. Each time the pictures returned, Link snapped back to alertness. After an hour of failing to fall back to sleep, the Hylian decided it was no use and awoke Epona by gently nudging her side with his foot. The horse groggily arose and shook her head in frustration. It was becoming a common occurrence for Link to wake her late at night because he could not sleep.

The hero's unconscious mind was constantly plagued with nightmares and terrifying thoughts. He no longer had normal dreams. They had become so horrifying as of late that he scarcely got through a night without being frightened awake by his own mind. His nightmare-induced insomnia was beginning to take its toll. He was always tired, but he rarely got any sleep, but he still could not find refuge from his dreams even when awake. The nightmares had recently been forcing their way into the hero's waking mind. Everyday Link lost a bit more of his sanity and his thoughts grew darker and each time the Siragons attacked a settlement and he failed to stop them, the despair grew within him. Between his inability to stay the Siragons and his dreams at night, Link was trapped in an unending nightmare.

Link's entire body ached from lack of sleep as he and Epona rode through the dark forest, guided only by the moon's light which occasionally broke through the leaves of the trees. The Hyrulian was exhausted. He had not felt completely rested in over three years. There was always something in the back in his mind that that told him there was something he desperately needed to do, something that required finishing, but what that thing was he did not know. That in combination with his incessant nightmares kept him from ever really resting.

Link was currently in Lorshimnen, a large island in the northeast corner of the world. He had heard a rumor that the Siragons had been spotted in large numbers in the mountains of Lorshimnen and he instantly set off to investigate. He arrived on the southern coast of the island the previous day by ship and was currently headed for Lorshimnen's capital.

Not long after Link continued his traveling, a heavy rain began to spill from the sky. The water drenched the Hylian's clothes, but he did not mind. Link emerged from the forest as the sun rose, behind the dark storm clouds. Once he exited the woods he saw a small village about a quarter of a mile away. He decided to pass by the village and head straight for Lorshimnen's capital, but as he traveled north and closer to the village he heard a bone-chilling scream coming from the town.

Link immediately kicked Epona's sides and she began to gallop towards the village. As he drew closer, Link spotted the familiar shape of Siragons running about gathering supplies and killing anything that tried to stop them from retrieving their loot. Link drew his sword as he entered the town. He managed to hit a demon in the back before it even saw him, however he was spotted by several other Siragons the instant the first one fell. The Siragons tried to chase after him, but he was too fast while on Epona.

Link rode through the streets of the village cutting down Siragons whenever he saw them, but he always kept moving, otherwise the demons might encircle him and take him down. As Link rode through the village the screaming stopped, the Hyrulian desperately searched for survivors, but found none, only the bloodied bodies of the dead villagers.

There were fewer than forty Siragons in the village and Link managed to kill more than a dozen before he came across one of the Rimgard Siragons mounted atop a black horse. The creature immediately galloped towards Link once it saw him. The Siragon tried to run Link through with his sword, but the Hylian managed to turn the demons blade aside. The two then began to circle one another on horseback while their swords clashed repeatedly. The Siragon did manage to cut Link's right arm, but the warrior did not flinch, even though the cut was fairly deep. Instead Link continued to fight and before long he managed to knock the sword from his opponent's hand and then stab him through the heart. The demon fell lifelessly to the ground from his horse, with a loud thud. Link only managed to ride a few feet away from his fallen enemy before six more horse-mounted Rimgard found him.

Link knew that he could not handle the six Rimgard all at once and he also knew that with Rimgard Siragons present, the demons would not likely harm the villagers. These Siragons usually only killed those who resisted them, though other types of Siragons would kill anything that got in their way if none of the Rimgard were with them. Convinced the people still in the village were in no immediate danger Link turned Epona around and bolted from the town. The Rimgard tried to chase after him, but their horses could not match the speed of Epona. The demons shot arrows at Link as he began to put distance between himself and the Siragons, but the heavy rain distracted them while they tried to aim. A few of the arrows came close to hitting Link or Epona, but most of them were several feet off. Soon the Siragons lost their quarry in the grassy hills of Lorshimnen.

Once Link felt he was safe, he slowed Epona to a trot. "The Siragons are here as the rumors said," Link thought to himself somberly. "If this last encounter with the Siragons is an indicator of how the battle in Lorshimnen will go then this land will fall just as Acromiar did, but I have a strange feeling about this place. There is an evil here I have sensed before, but I can not recall from where."


	3. Chapter Three: The Siragons

**Chapter Three: The Siragons**

The wind was blowing fiercely as Captain Targalth of Siragoth and his men pushed up a treacherous mountainside while they approached their base of operations. By the time they arrived, the sun had already been absent from the sky for five hours. When the Siragons finally made it to their base they were all let out a loud cheer, grateful they would soon be out of the night's mind-numbing cold and the knee-deep snow that they had pushed through for the last several hours. Captain Targalth was quick to order his troops to begin transferring their loot to the inside of the base and the Siragons obeyed the order even quicker. However, before the demons could transport the contents of their recent raid into the base, they had to find its entrance.

The Siragons' base was not detectable from the outside. In fact, if the Siragons had not known what to look for, they would have passed right by their headquarters, disregarding it as just part of the mountain terrain. The base consisted of a series of underground caves that had been carved out thousands of years in the past. The entrance to the caves was hidden by a magic illusion, which caused it to look as though it was just another part of the mountain. Once the exact location of the base inlet was located, the Siragons proceeded to carry all the supplies they had obtained from their raid through what appeared to be solid rock.

Captain Targalth remained outside the caves until the last of his soldiers entered in. The instance Targalth made his way through the illusion he was meet with the hellish red eyes of his commanding officer, general Mygar.

"Uruk karmek talther nolcal? Askere urkel norith antar!" Mygar said in the Ulrian tongue. The Ulrian language was the official language of Siragoth, but nearly every single demon from that realm was also fluent in the common speech used by the other races of the world. Though Ulrian does not translate well in to any other known language, the rough interpretation of what Mygar said means, "Captain, where are the rest of your men? You left here with three dozen units!"

"We encountered a bit of resistance," Targalth replied in Ulrian.

"What?' Mygar said a bit confused, "there should not have been any form of a garrison in that village. It was too small for the Lorshimnenites to worry about, especially considering the fact that they must now defend Ulron-Chi."

"There were no Lorshimnenite soldiers in the area," Targalth explained. "We were taken off guard by a villager or some drifter."

"One man killed over a third of your warriors, including one of the Rimgard?" Mygar said more interested than angry. "Tell me Captain, this man was dressed in green and had blonde hair, did he not?"

"That is… correct," Targalth responded more than a little perplexed about how Mygar knew what the attacker looked like.

"Link is here then. Just as I hoped," Mygar said under his breath, "This means it is time for me to spin the web that will ensnare him."

* * *

General Torqin of Siragoth awoke to the sound of one of his men calling out his name. The Siragon opened his eyes quickly and turned his head toward a bright orange light that was emanating from a near by doorway to find one of his soldiers holding a torch.

"Torqin, Morikel calon salrimog," Torqin's subordinate said in the Ulrian tongue.

"Ulka malkir nantoth, alrakir nakor theth," the Siragon continued. Torqin slowly rose to his feet, however he could not stand entirely upright, for he was over seven feet tall and the ceiling in the room in which he stood was only six feet high. Torqin quickly dressed and made his way through a series of narrow torch lit corridors. Along the way he observed many of his fellow demons marching along their patrol routes, making sure the base was free of any intruders. After several minutes Torqin arrived at a large chamber with several long tables and hundreds of chairs. Sitting at the head of one of these tables were three of the most influential demons in Siragoth. They were each a member of the Ulrian high council, the main governing body of Siragoth.

The high council was composed of five members. General Torqin was the youngest member and the most recent addition to the governing body. He was appointed after one of the former associates was slain in a battle with the Asreans. The other three members that were waiting for Torqin were general Ulgor, admiral Forraeos, and the high priest of Sokor, lord Morikel.

"Ishtak Torqin, tak calar uruk," said Ulgor, who was clad in full armor, including his helmet. While most Siragons' movement would be severely hindered by the heavy armor, Ulgor's immense strength allowed him to move around unencumbered. The translation of what Ulgor said is, "Greetings Torqin, I trust you slept well."

"Actually," Torqin said, still speaking in Ulrian, "The bed that was provided for me is far too small, but I doubt that any of you care about that."

"Indeed," Forraeos admitted, who unlike Ulgor, was not completely covered. He wore a pair of tight-fitting black pants and a pair of boots, but his grey scaly chest and face were exposed, as well as the long tendril-like black scales, which grew out of his head and made it seem as though he had some kind of hair. "The reason we have summoned you before us is to question you about your actions in Carthor. According to several reports from the officers under your command during the last battle of the Carthorian campaign, you ordered your men to pull back before the fortress Adorik was taken. It is our understanding that the fortress keep was breeched and our troops were successfully pushing the opposing forces back when you called them back."

"Surely you, a fellow member of the high council understand that it is the charge of the Ulgerons to destroy our enemies when ever possible," Morikel said before Torqin could respond to Forraeos's comment. Morikel's attire was unique among the Siragons, for he wore a robe of scarlet, which was a color rarely encountered in Siragon society. The robe was embroidered with many Ulrian characters, sown into the cloth with a dark blue thread. The robe covered most of Morikel's flesh with the exception of his face, though the robe did have a hood, which when draped over the wearer's head, hid his face quite well. "Why then," Morikel continued, "did you pull your forces back when the Carthorians were clearly defeated?"

"Why do you ask such a pointless question," Torqin inquired in an irritated tone. "You three know as well as I do that general Mygar had operational control over that mission. Mygar ordered me to call all forces back as soon as the dark stone was acquired. It was not my decision to retreat.

"You see my brethren," Ulgor yelled suddenly as he slammed his massive fist on the table, which collapsed under the tremendous force of the blow. Morikel and Forraeos were quick to push the broken shards of wood that fell into their laps while Ulgor stood up and began pace back and forth in front of Torqin. "Again, general Mygar has shown compassion towards our enemies and has practiced bad strategy. The Carthorians will no doubt be eager to take up arms against us again, especially considering all the villages we raided and the thousands of people we killed. Not to mention the fact that Mygar stole the Carthorian king's soul. If they were to unite with the Asreans… we do not yet have enough strength to repel them both.

"Perhaps, "Forraeos nodded, "but we did defeat the Acromiarians, with only four hundred troops. Our army now is nearly five hundred times the size it was then."

"That may be so," Morikel replied, "but do I need remind you that the Acromiarians were weakened significantly by the demon hordes long before we even began our assault. The hordes are all gone now. We can not call upon their strength again."

"With all due respect," Torqin interrupted, "I wish to know exactly why I have been summoned before this council."

"General Ulgor has called into question the merits of Mygar," Morikel said, "He has motioned that we remove Mygar from the high council and place him in the dungeons of Lorcmar."

"What, and cut off our only link to Sokor's power? That's madness," Torqin rebutted. "Without Mygar we will be unable to locate anymore of the Ulrian relics, besides that the general has done nothing to deserve such a punishment."

"He deliberately disobeyed orders by leaving survivors in Adorik," Shouted Ulgor.

"Besides, we have already located most of the relics we need and Mygar has already led us to Ulron-Chi, where we'll find the great key."

"However, there is still the matter of the final stone," Forraeos said. "Without out it the key will be useless to us."

"Yes," Ulgor nodded, "but Mygar can't seem to locate it anyway, he has served his purpose, now let us be rid of him before we regret it."

"Is this how you will repay the one responsible for all the progress we've made in the last three years, by imprisoning him?" Torqin objected, "Besides he is one of us, we should be united in a way that the other races aren't. That is how we will be victorious."

"You forget general, that Mygar is not of our kind," Morikel responded. "He may profess to believe in our cause, but he has his own agenda. He does not care for the restoration of our past glory. He is only concerned with cleansing this world of his own people. I agree with Ulgor, Mygar has served his purpose and now we must dispose of him. Forraeos, what do you say?"

"While my distrust of Mygar is very great indeed," the Admiral answered, "Our victory is not yet won. We still must destroy Ulron-Chi before we can retrieve the key and as you know my brethren, that fortress gave us many problems in the past. I think we should allow Mygar to conquer this last nation before we rid ourselves of him. Besides, if we are lucky, our enemies will kill him for us and solve our little problem."

"Callror elkul makorik talruk tathe uk mukar aren," said general Mygar in a furious tone as he entered the chamber, dressed in standard black Ulrian clothes. In the common tongue Mygar's statement meant, "Or perhaps they will kill you three treacherous worms and rid me of your ignorance."

"Trying to convert Torqin to your cause are you Ulgor?" the general said in the Ulrian language. Mygar then tuned to Torqin and asked, "What lies were they spreading this time?"

"No lies," Ulgor said slyly, "we were only discussing your cowardly retreat back at Adorik."

"If you consider saving thousands of lives of both the Carthorians and our own soldiers cowardly then I am guilty indeed!" Mygar snapped.

"That's just it Mygar," Morikel said calmly, "Your orders are to kill any member of the other races you encounter. Long has the high council looked away from your sparing the lives of those who do not fight back, but your actions in Carthor were unacceptable. Those men were clearly retaliating against us and yet you spared them."

"It was part of my strategy," Mygar explained. "It was my intent to leave Carthor with as many Ulgerons in fighting condition as possible. Though in truth, I do wish Torqin had hesitated to call back our forces for a few more minutes."

"Why is that?" Forraeos inquired.

"Let us just say, I ran to an old friend," Mygar said hesitantly. "In any case it was my plan to head directly to Lorshimnen and capture Ulron-Chi as soon as I acquired the stone in Carthor. I figured that it would be best to get out of Adorik with as many troops as possible so that we would have a large enough force to capture and hold Ulron-Chi."

"If that was the case, why are we not conversing in the old fortress right now instead of these lousy caves?" Ulgor asked while trying to mask his anger with his colleague.

"By the time I reached Ulron-Chi the Lorshimnenites had already fortified it," Mygar answered, "I attempted to take it with what troops I had, but I was ill-prepared for such a large task."

"You admit then that your plan failed?" Ulgor growled.

"I admit that Ulron-Chi presented a greater challenge than I had anticipated, I did not think the Lorshimnenites would find it before we did, however with more preparation I will succeed where you faltered in the past."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Morikel inquired, "the last time the Ulgerons attempted to conquer the old fortress we were stuck without its walls for years, even with the power of Sokor on our side we could not take it. What makes you think you can win?"

"The world is not united now the way it was back in your day Morikel," Mygar replied, "The garrison at Ulron-Chi at present, only consits of the Lorshimnenites and a small fraction of the Asrean army."

"This may be true at the moment," Forraeos said, "but Asrenath is now actively seeking allies to aid them in their fight against us. By the time we gather enough of our men here to launch an effective assault on Ulron-Chi our enemies will have already gained enough support to hold the entire Ulgeron army at bay."

"But they don't know that," Mygar said coldly.

"What difference does that make?" Ulgor asked with a snarl.

"It is not my aim to conquer Ulron-Chi through strength of arms," Mygar answered. "On that note I have sent orders to all ground forces not already within the boundaries of this land to fall back to Siragoth. However the whole of the naval fleet is still en route to Lorshimnen."

"What?!" Ulgor shouted. "We only have fifty thousand troops in Lorshimnen now. There are already thirty-five thousand of or enemies held up in the fortress and only more will come. We will never take the fortress with so few."

"I already told you," Mygar interrupted, "numbers will not give us victory here. Besides, we have been strangely fortunate in Asrenath's interference. They will likely think we will concentrate our efforts on Ulron-Chi and in turn they will send the majority of their troops north to protect Ulron-Chi from us, but in doing so their homeland will be left all but defenseless. This will give us the ability to destroy our greatest enemy's homeland at a moment's notice."

"What do we care of Asrenath?" Ulgor interrupted, "We should focus our attention on Ulron-Chi. If we achieve victory here, no army in the world would be able to defeat us."

"Remember Ulgor," Mygar scoffed, "Your race and many other forces have failed to conquer the old fortress in the past. It is important we have a fallback plan in case our current one goes awry."

"Plan, what plan?" Ulgor roared, "It seems to me that you are intentionally going to lead our troops to slaughter. Fifty thousand can not conquer a hundred thousand, especially not in that fortress."

"Quite so," nodded Mygar, "but fifty thousand can easily conquer an empty fortress."

"What do you mean?" Forraeos inquired.

"Our enemies do not know how many troops we have here or how many of our allies now inhabit this world," Mygar explained, "It is my intent to scare our enemies out of Ulron-Chi and then destroy them as they flee. A simple siege is not the answer in this case my brothers. It is time we take a different approach to the problem that is Ulron-Chi."

"I agree with Mygar," Forraeos said, "More troops aren't going to help us in this particular situation and if we don't need them here they should be put to use somewhere else."

"I too wish to try Mygar's plan," Torqin stated.

"How can you two join with this outsider?!" Ulgor yelled at the top of his lungs, "He hasn't even given you a real plan yet!"

"A unanimous vote is required to remove someone from the high council," Mygar said coolly, "I take it then, by Forraeos and Torqin's willingness to heed my advice that I am to retain my position?" Both Forraeos and Torqin nodded at the general's comment. "In that case Ulgor, the majority of the council has voted in my favor and I may now proceed however I see fit."

"Very well," Morikel grunted while trying to mask his fury, "It appears that you will continue to guide the Ulgerons. But before you act on your plan, tell the council more about your ideas. What exactly did you have in mind?"

Mygar turned to Morikel and in an otherworldly voice said, "Something that will make sure the other races will never unite against us."


	4. Chapter Four: UlronChi

**Chapter Four: Ulron-Chi**

Zelda paced back and forth across her room as she contemplated the events that were to take place that day. The king of Hyrule had created an army to aid the Lorsimnenites in their defense of Ulron-Chi and the troops were to ship out that evening. Before the men departed, Zelda was to inspect the troops along with her father, but the princess was far more concerned with what she would say to the king when she saw him next.

"You still haven't figured out how to tell your father you wish to accompany the troops to Lorshimnen have you?" Impa inquired in a sympathetic tone as she entered the princess's chamber.

Zelda shook her head and replied, "How can I persuade him to allow me to leave the safety of Hyrule and travel to the war-torn east?"

"You will find a way," Impa said encouragingly. Zelda nodded her head slightly, not conviced she could do what her atendant claimed. "Come now," Impa said seconds later, "the king is waiting for you." With out another word the princess and her Sheikah protector exited the room and began to make their way down the halls of Hyrule Castle.

As Zelda walked she began to dread the inevitable conversation with her father even more. The fear forced her to remind herself why exactly she wanted to go to Lorshimnen. Ever since the messenger from Asrenath came to Hyrule, Zelda had been constantly contemplating her recent dream. She could not help but feel that something was hidden at Ulron-Chi that could change the world and she intended to find out what it was. However, that was not the only reason she wished to go, though she would have never admitted it to anyone. Zelda had strong feeling that she would find clues as to the whereabouts of the Hero of Time in Lorshimnen. The princess had been waiting for Link to return to her for thirteen years and had not done so. For the first time during that period, Zelda had an idea of where to start looking for him.

Once Zelda found the king, the two of them proceeded to the royal stables, where they mounted their horses and started to ride to the outer wall of the castle where the men were waiting. While they were riding, Zelda managed to gather up enough courage to tell her father her wish.

"I want to go with the men to Lorshimnen!" Zelda blurted out.

"What? Why?" The king asked in confusion.

"My dream," Zelda answered, "In my dream I saw a shadow consume Ulron-Chi. I believe that the Siragons will conquer the fortress and take whatever treasure lies inside."

"All the more reason for you to remain here, where it is safe." the king said sternly. "The eastern lands are too dangerous. If I let you go… I would never forgive myself if something happened to you."

"You would not have such concern if I was you son," Zelda said furiously, "If I was a man you would you would praise me for my bravery. There is no need to worry father. The power of the goddesses will help protect me from the demons, or have you forgotten that I posses the Triforce of Wisdom."

The king whispered something to himself inaudibly with a slight nod of his head. Zelda could tell her father was not holding his ground and continued to speak in a less harsh tone. "Besides, Impa will be with me the entire time," she said, "nothing will happen to me."

The two royal family members continued to argue for a few more minutes before the king finally gave up

"You're just like your mother," the king said with a half smile, "Very well, you may follow the troops to Ulron-Chi, but you must promise to stay out of danger. And though I do not doubt Impa's skill with a blade I shall order a portion of the royal guard to accompany you on your journey. Also, if Ulron-Chi comes under siege I want you flee from that place and return home."

"Father, I don't need," Zelda began to protest, but her father cut her off before she could finish.

"Those are my conditions," the king said, "they are not negotiable."

"All right," Zelda sighed and kissed her father on the cheek in thanks. Because of the king's decision to allow his daughter to go to Lorshimnen, the troops were held up for an hour while Zelda prepared to leave. While the princess insisted that she did not need any thing the soldiers did not have, her father would not allow her to depart without the comforts of home. He ordered Zelda's maids to pack up many of her belongings including several different dresses to send with the princess on her trip. It also took awhile to ready a portion of the royal guard to send on the journey.

Once the army and Zelda were ready the king and hundreds of the residents of Hyrule Castle Town saw them off. After they left the city they turned east and marched through a mountain pass that curved around Death Mountain. The journey to the nearest port took the army three days to travel, seeing as most of the men were on foot. Zelda on the other hand rode atop a white horse, which made her feel very uncomfortable. She was clearly receiving royal treatment, but she did not consider herself any better than the brave men who were traveling half-way around the world to defend a nation that was not their own.

Once the army reached the port, they discovered a small fleet of ships ready to carry the army of five hundred soldiers across the ocean. Most of the soldiers were Hylians, but there were also a couple dozen Gorons and Zoras among the ranks as well. It took the ships approximately two months to travel from Hyrule to Lorshimnen, during that time Zelda stayed in a room that was intended to house several officers. However, the men gladly surrendered their quarters to the princess and in turn made her feel even worse about receiving special treatment.

Zelda spent a lot of the voyage recalling the time she spent as Sheik in the alternate past. During that time she did not have anyone to wait on her, nor did she need anyone to. The only one she had was Impa and during the seven years Ganondorf ruled Hyrule, Impa was more of a friend than an attendant. In her heart she secretly wished to return to that life when she was not treated better than anyone else was.

Once the fleet reached the island of Lorshimnen they headed to one of the nation's largest ports, but they did not disembark. Instead a Lorshimenite ship joined their fleet and led them to the north side of the island, which took an additional two days to travel. Once the ships reached the north side they sailed to the entrance of a cave large enough that ceiling of the structure cleared the mast of even the tallest ship in the fleet by more than twenty feet. After a few minutes of sailing through the dark caves, the fleet came to a large underground seaport. The Hyrulians were all in awe as they saw about a thousand ships of varying size docked at the subterranean harbor.

The Hyrulain ships docked as soon as they were able and the soldiers immediately began to disembark, carrying with them whatever supplies they could manage. Before many of the men got off the ships, a royal messenger of Asrenath met them.

"My master, prince Anthros of Asrenath, welcomes you and thanks you for your aid," the messenger said to general Hatatk, the commander of the Hyrulian army, with a bow. "Anthros requests that the highest ranking officials of your army meet with him immediately, so that you may be briefed on our current situation." Hatatk nodded respectfully and immediately gathered together all of the Hyrulain officers.

"Impa and I shall accompany you and your men to meet with the prince of Asrenath," Zelda said to general Hatatk, just before he was about to take his men to the fortress.

"You are no officer," Hatatk said as if he was pointing out something that Zelda did not already know. "I can not allow you to follow us."

"That was an order not a request," Zelda said sternly, "You forget general, that I actually outrank you. Now let's get moving."

"Yes, your highness," Hatatk sighed and told the Asrean herald to lead him to the fortress. The messenger did as he was told and led the Hyrulians to the very back of the cave. The back wall of the grotto shot up directly out of the ground. Zelda raised her head and discovered that she could no longer see the cave ceiling. Instead she saw the rear wall reach up perfectly vertical as if it rose straight up to the sky. The herald motioned for the others to join him atop large square platform, which sat just under the large shaft.

"Hurry up," the messenger said, "We only have a moment before the lift activates." A few seconds after all the Hyrulians were a board, the platform suddenly shook and then began to ascend up the shaft. As they rode the platform none of the passengers could see anything, but they could tell they were moving fast. It took the elevator nearly twenty minutes to reach its destination. Once they reached the top the Hyrulian officers found themselves in a large hall with at least forty men, all looking intently at the new arrivals.

"State your country of origin and your purpose here," one of the guards ordered.

"We hail from the land of Hyrule," Hatatk replied authoritatively, "We come to aid in the defense of this fortress against the demons of Siragoth. We have been ordered to report to prince Anthros."

As soon as Hatatk finished speaking, a part formed amongst the guard ranks and two men, both with long brown hair, neatly trimmed beards, and dressed in fine clothes embroidered with gold thread, stepped out from amongst the men guarding the lift. The taller and more muscular of the two men bowed to the Hyrulians, "Greetings," he said, "I am prince Anthros of the realm of Asrenath, and this is my younger brother prince Vilamaros," the young man stated as he pointed to his companion.

"We are glad to see help come from the west, "Anthros continued, turning back to the Hyrulians. "You are the only nation west of Cyntir to send any aid. Hopefully your presence here will inspire others to do the same. How many men did you bring?"

"Five hundred," Zelda answered before Hatatk could say anything.

Anthros turned his gaze to the princess and said, "What are you doing here? This is no place for a woman."

"Do not treat me as you would the women from your land," Zelda retorted angrily, "I am the princess Zelda and I have much skill with a blade. I'd even wager I could defeat you in a duel."

"Ha! Don't make me laugh," Anthros chuckled. Zelda scowled at the prince and was about to challenge him to a fight right there, when Vilamaros stepped in.

"Ignore my brother princess," Vilamaros said and then took Zelda's hand and kissed it. "He believes himself to be the greatest swordsman in the world. He gets upset when anyone thinks they are a greater warrior than he is."

"That's not true," Anthros argued, "It's just that women should not be here, not while the Siragons have their eyes fixed on this fortress."

"I disagree," Vilamaros said with a smile, "If the Siragons were to take but one look upon this fair lady, they would be paralyzed by her beauty." Zelda gave Vilamaros a look of disapproval, showing the young prince she was not impressed by his flattering techniques.

"Yes, well, If you and your troops are going to help us, it would be best if I gave you a tour of the fortress," Vilamaros said, trying to hide his embarrassment. He then quickly turned and led the Hyrulians out of the large chamber to a wide walkway overlooking the fortress.

"May I present to you the legendary fortress, Ulron-Chi," Vilamaros said as he stepped out onto the walkway. Once Zelda followed him she was awe struck by the stronghold. Ulron-Chi was larger than the whole of Hyrule Castle Town. The outer wall was a perfect circle and made of a green marble and was over a hundred feet high. Ulron-Chi's inner walls, which stood about fifty feet tall, weaved all through out its interior and effectively turned the inside of the fortress into a labyrinth. At Ulron-Chi's center a great tower stood at about one thousand feet high. The fortress was located in narrow valley concealed by the snow-covered mountains of Lorshimnen. The mountains had kept Ulron-Chi hidden for thousands of years and also gave the fortress additional protection, making an assault only possible from two directions.

"Amazing," Zelda said almost out of breath. "How long ago did you find this place, Vilamaros?"

"A little more than four months ago," Vilamaros answered. "The Lorshimnenites claim a young Sheikah man led them here, just before the Siragons arrived.

"Where, is the man that revealed Ulron-Chi's location?" Zelda asked.

"He left as soon as the Lorshimnenites occupied the fortress," Vilamaros replied.

"Did the Lorshimnenites find any sort of treasure here, when they first arrived," Zelda continued with her inquiry."

"What kind of treasure?" Vilamaros asked confused.

"I don't know," Zelda said, "Any item that might have been left behind by Ulron-Chi's previous occupants."

"No, there was nothing here, when the first troops arrived," Vilamaros answered.

"I wonder if the legends of this structure's great treasure were false," Zelda said to herself, so that the prince could not hear her. Vilamaros and Anthros then proceeded to show the Hyrulians where they would be stationed and where they would get their food. Once the Hyrulians reached their station, the Asrean princes were overtaken by a man from Carthor.

"Prince Anthros, your highness!" the man called out when he arrived.

"What is it now Aramoth?" Anthros asked in an irritated tone.

"I have a suggestion on how we can use some of my troops," said Aramoth, "I want to form several small scouting parties to go out and locate the Siragon encampments hidden in the surrounding mountains."

"No," Anthros said more than a little annoyed. "The Siragons would probably catch and kill the spies before they could report back to us. Besides, the whole point of holding this fortress is we know that sooner or later the Siragons will attack us. Why should we look for our enemies when they will come to us anyway? Especially considering the advantage Ulron-Chi gives us."

"But you highness," Aramoth protested, "I believe that…"

"Captain, have you been talking to the green drifter again?" Anthros said cutting Aramoth off mid-sentence. Zelda began to listen in on the conversation intently at the mention of the "green drifter."

"I told you to stop talking to that man," Anthros said angrily.

"He has been fighting the Siragons longer than you have, sire," Aramoth argued. "He knows how the demons fight, better than anyone else."

"But has he ever defeated them?" Anthros asked already knowing the answer.

"No," Aramoth admitted, "But I'd bet the reason for that is the people he fights with never listen to him."

"No one listens to him because he does not command any troops, nor is he officially fighting under a national banner." Anthros growled, "He's just a loner, who wants to destroy the Siragons for his own reasons. He doesn't have any sound tactical strategies. Now I've heard enough of the stranger's plans. Don't tell me any more ideas unless they're your own."

"Yes sir," Aramoth said angrily and withdrew from the prince's presence, but before he got far, Zelda stopped him.

"This man, the green drifter that Anthros spoke of, what is his real name?" Zelda asked anxiously.

"Most know him only as the green drifter or the green stranger because of the way he dresses," Aramoth answered. "However, I have talked much with the man and he told me his real name is Link."

Zelda gasped even though Aramoth had only confirmed what she had already guessed. She then turned to look at Impa and said, "He is here, after thirteen long years, I've finally found him. I knew he was here. He is not one to sit idly back when a battle is going on." Zelda then turned back to face Aramoth and asked him to take her to where Link was.

"Of course, your highness," Aramoth answered, "He has stationed himself at the outer wall, so we'll have to do a bit walking first."

"That's all right," Zelda said, "lead the way." Aramoth nodded and began to walk towards the wall followed by Zelda and her attendant.

"Princess," Impa said with a serious tone, "Are you sure its wise too seek out Link? After all, it has been a long time since you last saw him and in all these years he has never once made an attempt to seek you out. Perhaps he does not want you to find him."

"Perhaps," Zelda admitted, "but at least this way I'll finally get some answers, at least I'll know why he never returned." Impa nodded her head slightly at the princess and the two of them continued to follow Aramoth.

"I met Link in Carthor when the Siragons were there," Aramoth explained as he and his companions walked. "He tried to advise my king on how defeat the Siragons, but my lord would not heed the stranger's words. In the end, Carthor fell, though unlike the other nations the demons destroyed, many of the Carthorian warrior's lives were sparred. My king unfortunately, was struck with a sickness, from which he can not seem to wake up, but he still lives. Because the king is not actually dead, no successor has taken his place. I was the Captain of the king's guard and have since been commanding the remaining soldiers of Carthor.

"I ordered my men to Ulron-Chi the instant I heard the Siragons sought to take it, for I believe one of the Siragons, posses the cure to the sleeping illness my king has. I met Link again, here in the fortress a few days after I arrived. I have since been trying to convince the princes of Asrenath to take Link's advice in defending this place from the demons, but I have had little luck in doing so. This Link is a brave man, he has fought the Siragons in many different lands and yet he still tries to battle the loathsome beast whenever possible. His courage is astounding!"

"It certainly is," Zelda said under her breath.

After their long walk across Ulron-Chi's inner walls, Aramoth finally led his guests to a small chamber within the outer wall of the fortress. The ceiling was about seven feet high and the floor was littered with all manners of supplies.

"Link comes here to sleep," Aramoth said once they arrived, "It will probably be night fall before he returns. I don't have any idea what he is doing now, but I suppose you could wait for him till he returns. Unfortunately, I have duties to attend to and I must leave you now, your highness."

"Thank you, kind sir," Zelda said with a smile. Aramoth bowed and then left. Zelda sat herself down on a barrel of foodstuffs and Impa did the same. The princess did not speak much for the next several hours. She was too busy worrying what she would say to her old friend when he returned to his quarters. She played in her head all the possibilities of the reunion.

As the princess was thinking of such things after the sun had set, Impa got up to ignite a torch for light, but before she could do so, an unseen enemy struck her from behind. Impa was shocked that her extremely attuned Sheikah senses did not alert her to her attacker's presence before she was knocked down. Impa recovered quickly from the blow, but not before the assailant managed to get behind Zelda and press a knife to her throat.

"State your name and purpose," the attacker said in a voice somewhat familiar to the princess.

"I am the princess Zelda of Hyrule. I come in search of man named Link. We mean you no harm." Zelda said in a remarkably calm voice. Once Zelda finished speaking, the knife remained at her throat for a few more seconds before it was finally pulled away.

"You have found your man," the aggressor said without a hint of emotion in his voice. Seconds later, a torch was lit and the light revealed Link to the two women in the room.

"Link," Zelda gasped as she laid eyes upon her old friend. "It has been too…"

"Why are you here?" Link said cutting Zelda's sentence short.

"We came here with troops from Hyrule to aid in the battle against the Siragons," Zelda answered a little offended that she was not allowed to finish speaking.

"No," Link replied in a softer tone, "Why are you at Ulron-Chi, Zelda? This is no place for you," Zelda was more than a little startled that Link addressed her by name without adding princess, or your highness. She recalled how when she and Link were children that he would never simply call her Zelda, no matter how many times she asked him, but the way the hero had just addressed her lacked a certain respect for her position.

"I'm not really sure," Zelda lied, she didn't know why, but she could not tell Link that she had come to Lorshimnen in hopes of finding clues to his whereabouts.

"If you do not have a reason for being here I must suggest you leave," Link said coldly. "And take your men with you. They will be of no use here."

"On the contrary," Zelda replied, wishing that the topic of conversation was something other than the Hyrulian soldiers. "I believe Hyrule's soldiers will be an excellent addition to the garrison already stationed here."

"When the Siragons come, the armies of Hyrule will only give into fear and spread panic throughout the ranks," Link said grimly, "They will do more harm than good."

"My troops are made up of valiant men, they are afraid of nothing," Zelda retorted with a slightly harsh tone, "They fear not death and certainly not demons. They are ready to face anything the Siragons have planned."

"You know nothing about what you speak," Link growled. "Your men have never seen these demons or their weapons before. I have witnessed entire armies cower in fear before the terrible onslaught of the Siragons. Armies far more experienced than yours. How many real battles have your men been in?"

"I don't know for sure," Zelda answered.

"It can not be many," Link continued, "Hyrule has not been to war in almost a quarter of a century. You come from a peaceful land Zelda, you and your men were not meant for this place."

"Why are you here then?" Zelda asked finally seeing an opportunity to question Link about the last thirteen years. "You are also from Hyrule. Lorshimnen is not your home, why are you willing to die in its defense."

"I am not fighting for Lorshimnen," Link answered sternly, "I am fighting against Siragoth."

"Why?" Zelda asked in confusion finally seeing a chance to steer the conversation in the direction she wanted it to go. "Why are you even out here? Why didn't you ever return home?" Zelda's question caused memories to come flooding back to Link of the incident in Termina that took place shortly after he first left Hyrule, memories the hero had desperately tried to forget. Images of the moon growing ever larger as it threatened to collide with the earth, forced their way into Link's mind as well as the terror on the faces of all the inhabitants of Termina as they realized their doom was inevitable. In an instant Link remembered all the times he failed to stop the world from ending.

As the horrible memories came back to Link, Zelda looked into his eyes and she could tell that something awful had happened to him.

Link wanted to tell Zelda the whole story of Termina and Majora's Mask and explain how after that experience he knew no one would ever understand what he had been through. And for that very reason Link could not manage to say anything to the princess except, "I have my motives."

Zelda could tell Link wanted to tell her the reason for his absence, but was holding back. In an attempt to persuade the hero to tell her what was troubling him, Zelda said, "You can tell me why, Link. We are friends after all."

Link then scowled at Zelda and in an angry voice said, "I have no friends and I have no home either! If you came to here to reestablish our so-called friendship, you wasted your time. I have neither the desire nor the time for it!"

"What happened to you?" Zelda asked with a quivering voice as she fought back the tears that started to coming to her eyes. "How could you risk your life to save Hyrule and then never want to return?"

"There is nothing for me in Hyrule," Link said grimly, "There is nothing for me anywhere."

"What do you mean there is nothing there for you?" Zelda inquired. "The only reason you haven't returned is because you didn't want to. Why would you banish yourself from a land you have given up so much for? You did save Hyrule, after all."

"Hyrule never would have needed saving if it had not been for me!" Link snapped. "It would have been better off without me!"

"How many times do I have to tell you…?" Zelda tried to explain to Link that what happened was not his fault, but Link was tired of talking about his past. He spent the last thirteen years of his life trying to escape it and Zelda was forcing him to recall all the pain he had endured.

"Leave, Zelda," Link growled cutting the princess off once again. "My place is here and regardless of what you think, it is not yours. Go back to Hyrule, where you belong." Zelda was deeply hurt by Link's statement. She could tell her old friend no longer wanted anything to do with her. She could not fight the tears any longer and rather than let Link see her cry, she stormed out of the room without another word. Impa started to follow after, but Link stopped her.

"Impa," he said in a more compassionate voice than he had used with princess, "Please, take Zelda away from this place. It is not safe here. The Siragons will soon destroy this place and its garrison along with it."

"This fortress is nearly filled to capacity," Impa glared at Link, angered greatly by the way he had just treated the princess. "No army in the world could conquer this place."

"The Siragons will find away," Link said grimly, "They are a very cunning race. They will find some way to conquer the fortress. Zelda and the other Hyrulians should not be here when Ulron-Chi falls."

"I think you underestimate the strength of our armies," Impa growled as she followed after the princess."

"I know you underestimate theirs," Link said under his breath, "Just as everyone else has."

As Impa chased after her ward, she discovered the princess had managed to put quite a bit of distance between herself and Link's quarters.

"Princess!" Impa called out once she managed to catch up, "It is not safe for you to wander the streets of Ulron-Chi on your own."

"Why did I come here, Impa?" Zelda asked with tears streaming down here face. "I should have known Link did not want to see me. It's just like you said, if he wished to see me again, he would have sought me out on his own. He would have returned to Hyrule."

"People change over time," Impa stated, "Link is no longer the kind young boy you knew before. He is not the same man who rescued Hyrule from Ganondorf."

"You're wrong!" Zelda shouted suddenly, "He is still the Hero of Time. He still…" Zelda stopped mid sentence. She knew whatever she said would not change her opinion of Link

"Princess, perhaps we should leave Ulron-Chi," Impa said ignoring Zelda's outburst. "There are enough men already here to defend it from any invasion and obviously Link does not want you here. We should return to Hyrule."

"No," Zelda said sternly, "Despite what Link says, I am still his friend. Something is troubling him and I will not leave this place till I find out what it is."

* * *

"Princess Zelda, is the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on," prince Vilamaros told his brother several hours after night had fallen and they were retiring to their quarters for the night.

"Yes I know," Anthros sighed, "You have told me at least a dozen times by now."

"I am sorry my brother, but I can not help it," Vilamaros continued, "I can't get her out of my head."

"I knew having her here would cause problems," Anthros growled, "You came here to fight the Siragons, not find a wife."

"Why can I not do both?" Vilamaros asked.

"Good night, Vilamaros," Anthros said as the princes reached their chambers. "I am sure I will hear more of the princess much more tomorrow, but I must get some rest if you are to talk about her all day." Vilamaros laughed and then bid his older brother good night and entered his room. Once the door was firmly closed, Vilamaros heard an unexpected yet familiar voice, which caused him to jump a bit.

"You have more important things to worry about than women," the voice said. A dark figure then stepped out of the corner and revealed himself to the prince.

"Lugath," Vilamaros said, "you startled me."

"I told you to never call me by that name! Lugath is dead remember?" the figure said angrily.

"My apologies Mygar," Vilamaros responded, "It will not happen again."

"Make sure that it does not," the Siragon growled. "Now give me an update of the current situation here.

"Five hundred troops from Hyrule arrived today, but few of them have ever seen a real battle before. They will cause you little trouble," Vilamaros began, "However, there are some pressing matters, which you need to know about. As you know, the Asreans, in cooperation with the troops the Tyfirians sent to Ulron-Chi, have been sneaking some of their cannons into the fortress with the food supply shipments. However, the number of cannons they have managed to bring is nothing compared to the number the Siragons have."

"Indeed," Mygar said, "Nor are they as powerful or maneuverable."

"Yes, well," Vilamaros continued, "A few days ago, I received word from a Tyfirian supply convoy that was attacked by a Siragon ship while on their way here. They have been forced to approach the fortress through the mountains on foot from the south. The convoy is expected to arrive tomorrow.

"One of the Tyfirian blacksmiths who was recovered from the Acromiar incident, Ekrin I believe is his name. He is one of the only men in the world with the knowledge of how to create weapons similar to yours, and he is one of the members of the approaching party. He will be disguised as one of the soldiers watching over tomorrow's supply shipment. Also, he is being escorted by general Syrus, the Tyfirians best strategic mind in regards to the use of cannons.

"Once they arrive here Ekrin will begin instructing blacksmiths from other nations on how to build cannons and Syrus will begin teaching my brother and other Asrean officers in the effective uses of the weapons. We can not allow that to happen."

"No, we can not," Mygar agreed, "I have a regiment of Rimgard riders stationed near the southern pass. Tomorrow my troops and I will attack the shipment and capture ol' Syrus and Ekrin."

"Forgive me for my imprudence," Vilamaros said confused, "But would it not be better if you killed the men rather than capture them?"

"No," Mygar answered, "I want your brother to believe he can rescue the Tyfirians and follow my troops and myself into the mountains after we attack."

"Do you mean to say you will finally kill Anthros?" Vilamaros asked excitedly. Mygar simply nodded and then the Asrean prince laughed with satisfaction. Then I will be next in line for the throne instead of my foolish brother and because you already took my father's soul, I will effectively be the ruler of all of Asrenath."

"Just never forget who helped you gain the throne," Mygar said sternly. "Now listen carefully, when I attack on the morrow you must convince your brother to follow after me with as many men as possible. We will leave tracks for you to follow, but be warned, there will be mines placed off the immediate path, so be sure not to stray too far. Now when you and the rest of the army reach the end of the trail…"

"Me?" Vilamaros asked anxiously, "You don't want me to follow my brother to destruction do you? Forget it! I will not go."

"If you want Asrenath for your own, you will obey!" Mygar growled, while still trying to keep his voice low enough, so that no one outside the room could hear. "Do not fear, I will have some of my soldiers guide you away before your brother and his troops are destroyed. You shall be led to a small Siragon encampment where you will receive further instruction from general Torqin.

"I feel the need to warn you now. Neither your brother, nor any of his men will return from this ambush. This is your last chance to change your mind. I will not seek retribution against you if you should decide to save the life of Anthros and your fellow Asreans. I understand how they would be important to you."

"Do not think me a fool, Mygar!" Vilamaros snapped. "I delivered my father to you, I will deliver my brother as well. I will be king of Asrenath, and Anthros will fall by the hands of the Siragons."

"If that is your decision," Mygar said mechanically, "Than I shall uphold my part of the bargain. Now I must leave. Tomorrow will be an eventful day and if all goes according to plan, you will get what you want." Mygar then lowered his voice so that even Vilamaros could not hear him and said, "and I will obtain what I desperately need." With that, Mygar headed towards the nearest window and jumped out of it. Vilamaros rushed after him to see where the Siragon would go next, but the demon had disappeared by the time the prince poked his head out the window.


	5. Chapter Five: The Lure of the Soul Thief

**Chapter Five: The Lure of the Soul Thief**

Ekrin, a grey haired man clad in Tyfirian armor, shivered as he rode his horse through the deep snow drifts and bone chilling mountain winds of Lorshimnen. Despite his appearance, Ekrin was no warrior. He was only dressed as a soldier to hide who he really was, and what he really was, was a blacksmith, notwithstanding a very well known and skilled blacksmith. The reason for Ekrin's fame came from his association with the late general Ormek of Tyfira. About three and half years prior, Ormek instructed Ekrin and many other blacksmiths in the making of various weapons never before used by the Tyfirians or by anyone else. Ekrin did not know where Ormek had come across the designs for the new weapons, but they were truly ingenious, so ingenious in fact that the weapons allowed the Tyfirians conquer most of Cyntir even though they were horribly out numbered.

After the brief Cyntir-Tyfira war, Ormek's various inventions were all rounded up and locked away, but rumors of the general's deadly weapons spread quickly through out the east. Many nations tried to form alliances with the Tyfirians in exchange for the weapons and instruction on how to make more, but Tyfiria's king, king Talrid, would not allow the weapons to leave Tyfiria. He was afraid of the problems Ormek's inventions would cause if they found their way into the wrong hands. But more so than that, Talrid knew the only reason Cyntir and their allies would not retaliate against the Tyfirians for attacking Cyntir was their fear of the weapons.

It soon became apparent to all those who sought after Ormek's inventions that Tyfira would not let their greatest advantage go so easily. Rather than concede defeat, the king of Acromiar decided to kidnap the blacksmiths who were instructed by Ormek and Ekrin was no exception. The Acromiarians tried to force him to make cannons for them, but the demon hordes attacked before he could. Once the demon assault began, Ekrin was evacuated from Acromiar and held in a remote prison until he was later recovered by the Tyfirians, after Acromiar had been destroyed.

After the Acromiar incident, the Tyfirians grew even more determined to withhold their weapons from the rest of the world, but once they learned of the seeming superiority of the Siragons' weapons, they agreed to lend the Asreans some of Ormek's creations in exchange for a long standing alliance. Ekrin was currently on his way to Ulron-Chi to instruct the Asreans in the construction of cannons to be used in the fortress's defense.

"How are you holding up in this cold?" asked general Syrus, the tall commander of the forces of Tyfiria stationed at Ulron-Chi. Syrus was also well acquainted with general Ormek before his death. In fact, Ormek was Syrus's mentor. He was promoted to the rank of general after the Cyntir-Tyfiria war and while he did not understand completely how Ormek's inventions worked, his old teacher instructed in him on how to effectively use the new weapons in battle and therefore it was almost as crucial that he arrive safely at Ulron-Chi as it was that Ekrin did.

"I've made it through colder winters in Tyfiria, general," Ekrin replied through his chattering teeth. "Though, to be quite honest, I think my blood is freezing in my veins."

"Ha, you Tyfirians no nothing of freezing," A Zora, who was traveling with the convoy shouted. "My brother's blood and my own is actually prone to freezing in this type of environment."

"Yes, Gilthas," Syrus sighed, "We've been hearing you and Targas complain about the cold since we started traveling through these mountains."

"Were not complaining about the cold," Targas, another Zora burst in, "We're just showing you worthless slaves how weak you really are. Even though my brother and I are in real danger of freezing to death up here, we are still managing to keep up with your troops." Syrus growled at the Zora inaudiably. There was quite a bit of tension among the members of the convoy, for not all of the members were from Tyfiria. The two Zora brothers were actually from Cyntir. The Zoras' ship had been destroyed by the Siragons while en route to Ulron-Chi. They managed to swim to a nearby Lorshimnenite port, where they stayed for a few days until the Tyfirians came to the same port after their ship had been damaged in a battle with another Siragon vessel. In an effort to show good will towards his enemies, Syrus allowed the Cyntirian Zoras to accompany his men while they journeyed to Ulron-Chi on foot, but the Zoras had done little other than anger the other members of convoy for the entire trip.

"I can't wait till we get to Ulron-Chi, so we can dump these fish," Syrus growled, not caring whether the Zoras heard him or not. He then turned to a Goron that was walking next to him and said, "Magmus, how far do think we are from the fortress now?"

"I'd say we'll reach our destination in oh, maybe six hours." Magmus answered. Magmus was the convoy's scout. He was a Lorshimnenite warrior who acted as a guide for those who approached Ulron-Chi by trekking through the southern mountains. Magmus was an average sized Goron, he wore an iron helmet as well a red waistcoat and a pair of sturdy boots, which was uncommon attire for a Goron.

"Great," Syrus said facetiously, "Six more hours of hiking through Siragon infested mountain passes in waist deep snow, while having to listen to those blasted Zoras. This should be fun."

"It'll be fun watching you Tyfirians freezing your rear ends off," Gilthas chimed in. Syrus sighed and shook his head, more than a little annoyed.

"Want me to club 'em with my mace?" Magmus offered. Syrus laughed at the Goron's comment and continued to push his way through the snow.

* * *

"I forbid it!" Impa said to Zelda, within the confines of the princess's chamber located within the keep of Ulron-Chi. "I can not let you leave the safety of the fortress."

"You don't need to worry about me," Zelda replied, "I know how to handle myself. Besides, I talked to Aramoth, and he told me the Siragons haven't been sighted anywhere near the fortress since their initial attempt to take Ulron-Chi. The patrol won't be in any danger."

"Princess," the king's orders were very specific. "I must protect you and if I let you go out with the patrol, I would be shirking my responsibilities to both you and your father.

"Fine, I won't go," Zelda sighed.

"I just don't understand why you want to get closer to Link," Impa continued, "He obviously doesn't want you here."

"I know," Zelda said, "but I have been wondering what happened to him for thirteen years. I can't just leave now that I've finally found him. Something happened to him after he left Hyrule and I'm going to find out what."

"Fine," Impa said, "but you'll have to find another way to get close to Link. Going out with the morning patrol is simply out of the question."

"I already agreed not to go," Zelda replied. "I'll just have to find another way to keep an eye on him."

"Yes, well in any case," Impa said, "prince Vilamaros has requested that you come to the main hall in the fortress keep and join him and his brother for breakfast."

"Oh great," Zelda shook her head, "Vilamaros is trying to court me now. You know, when I came to Lorshimnen I hoped to escape his type."

"Nevertheless," Impa replied, "they are our hosts and I think you should accept the invitation."

"Sometimes I hate being a princess," Zelda sighed, "Very well, inform the Asrean princes that I'll be with them shortly. Let me get dressed and then I'll make my way to the hall." Impa nodded and then left the princess's quarters. She didn't have to travel far to the main hall of the fortress keep. She quickly made her way to the hall, told the princes of Zelda's decision, and returned to the princess's room, but when she re-entered, Zelda was nowhere to be found.

"Did the princess already leave?" Impa question the two royal guards stationed outside of Zelda's quarters?

"No mam," the guards replied in unison. "Why, is she missing?" One of the guards asked after he processed Impa's comment.

"I knew she gave up on going with the morning patrol too easily," Impa said to herself as she made her way to the window and discovered the princess's bed sheets tied together hanging out the window.

Zelda pulled the collar of her Asrean overcoat up as she saddled her horse with a soldier's saddle and mounted the animal. It had been long time since Zelda had been anywhere without a royal guard nearby and it had been even longer since she had snuck past any guards. She felt free for the first time in years, though she also felt a little guilty for tricking Impa into leaving. Zelda had dressed herself in the clothes of an Asrean warrior and covered he face and hair with an Asrean helmet. It was clear to her that she could not go on the patrol in her royal clothes, so it was crucial that no one recognize her, especially since she was now trying to avoid her own guards.

Once Zelda was mounted, she made her way to Ulron-Chi's outer wall where she managed to blend in with the soldiers ready to go out on the patrol.

"If Aramoth was right," Zelda thought to herself, "Link should be joining this patrol. With a little luck, I might be able to learn more about what is troubling him."

Link stood atop Ulron-Chi's outer wall as the tip of the sun rose over the mountains of Lorshimnen. His thoughts were occupied with many things that morning, but the thing he thought most about was his meeting with Zelda the night before. He was shocked to say the least when he saw the princess so far away from her home. His heart sank the instant he realized it was her.

Part of the reason, Link was so hostile to Zelda the night before was that he wanted her to leave. He was worried when the Siragons finally came, Zelda would be hurt or killed, just as in the dream he frequently had about watching all of his former friends being murdered by the demons. Despite the way he acted the previous night, Link did care about the princess's well-being. He hoped that by telling the princess he wanted nothing to do with her, she would be compelled to leave. He did not want Zelda to experience the horrors that he had become so accustomed to.

The other reason Link wanted the princess to leave was the memories that came back to him when he looked at her. Everything he had been trying to forget for thirteen years suddenly returned to him when he saw Zelda.

Link's train of thought changed suddenly when the morning patrol arrived at Ulron-Chi's main gate. Link quickly descended from the fortress wall, found and mounted Epona and then joined the patrol. He took a position towards the middle of the pack, but he also made sure not to mix himself in with the rest of the troops. Though he did not know it, Zelda, who had already blended in with the Asrean troops, placed herself towards the back of the patrol so she could keep an eye on him.

Ever since Link arrived at Ulron-Chi, he had been spending most of his time in the surrounding mountains searching for Siragon encampments, but had found none. Link rarely went on patrol with any of the men stationed at the fortress, but the patrol he was joining had been charged with a certain task that Link wanted to make sure went smoothly. The patrol was supposed to meet the Tyfirian supply convoy that was expected to arrive that day. Normally, Link would not care about what seemed to be such a simple mission, but the former mercenary was aware of who was with the Tyfirians and he wanted to make sure that both general Syrus and the blacksmith Ekrin arrived at Ulron-Chi in one piece. He knew both men would be needed in order to defend the fortress from the Siragons successfully.

The patrol was expectedly uneventful as the Asrean soldiers made their way through the icy mountain passes of Lorshimnen, but Link still kept his eyes open for a Siragon attack. The Hyrulian was made uneasy by the terrain he found himself crossing. There were tall pine trees in every direction, which severely limited the troops' visibility. Link knew a small band of Siragons could easily hide themselves in the trees and prepare to attack when the time was right and he suspected that they had done just that.

Link had been on edge for the last few weeks. He had been expecting a massive Siragon assault on Ulron-Chi ever since he first came to the fortress two months prior, but no such attack had come. In fact, there had been little Siragon activity of any kind in Lorshimnen. The demons had raided few villages (most of which had already been evacuated by the order of Lorshimnen's king,) but other than that, the Siragons had made themselves scarce. The beasts were not even trying to prevent supplies from getting to Ulron-Chi, which greatly concerned Link. In his experience with the Siragons, the demons always tried to beat their enemies by depraving them of supplies, unless they were sure of their victory, as was the case with Carthor. Link was worried that the lack of Siragon activity indicated the beasts had no doubt in their minds that they could take the fortress when the assault began.

The patrol marched for about three hours before they spotted the Tyfirian supply convoy approaching from the south. Link felt a great deal of relief when he saw the Tyfirians, but the relief was short lived. Before the two patrols could meet with one another, a reign of black arrows shot out of the trees on the west-side of both armies. The arrows struck and killed many soldiers and chaos erupted among the armies as they tried to spot their attackers.

Zelda was horrified as she watched dozens of soldiers fall lifelessly to the ground all around her as the arrows pierced their armor. The princess began to panic as did many of the other soldiers. She did not know what to do; she could not see her attackers, so she could not defend herself. Link on the other hand raised his shield and kicked Epona's side. The steed then bolted in the direction of the Tyfirians.

Link guessed the whole purpose of the Siragon ambush was to capture general Syrus and Ekrin and he had no intention of letting the demons succeed. Zelda, unsure of what else to do decided to stay close to the hero and followed him from a distance.

Link was not the only one to try and reach the Tyfirians before the Siragons. The commander of the Asrean forces quickly ordered his men to defend the Tyfirians, though many of his men were still too frightened to listen to their orders, still dozens of mounted Asrean soldiers managed to start galloping towards the supply convoy. Because of Link's position in the patrol when the attack started he had more distance to cover then the Asrean soldiers who were ahead of him. However, none of the soldiers made it to the Tyfirans. When the soldiers got within fifty feet of the supply convoy, the ground began to explode around them, killing many of the riders, but there were no bombs or cannons anywhere to be found.

"Land mines!" Link shouted at the top of his lungs. A few of the more experienced men knew what Link was talking about, but the vast majority of the men were more confused then ever. The land mines the hero was warning the others about were really just bombs that were buried just beneath the ground. These bombs were rigged to explode whenever something stepped on them.

"Fall back!" the Asrean commander yelled, "It's a trap!" The Asreans then tried to retreat, but a legion of Siargons had already sealed off both ends of the pass to ensure their prey could not escape. Link, was at a loss for several moments. He knew he could not make it to the Tyfrians, without tripping one of the mines, but he also knew he would not be able to retreat unless he could manage to rally the panicking Asreans and create a coordinated defensive. Link was about start calling the troops to him, but before he could, an arrow whizzed by his head. The hero looked in the direction the dart came from and saw general Mygar atop a pitch-black horse, with his arm outstretched, holding a black bow. Link knew the Siragon had only fired a warning shot. If Mygar had wanted to hit him, he would not have missed.

Mygar stared at Link for a few moments before he turned his steed around and bolted in the direction of the Tyfirians. Link knew Mygar was hoping he would follow after him, but the hero could not allow the deadly general to escape. Something deep within himself compelled him to pursue the demon. As Link chased after Mygar, the Siragon guided his horse into the minefield. Link knew that if he followed Mygar's path exactly he would be safe from the mines. He decided to follow his quarry through the dangerous plot of land and Zelda in turn followed Link.

As soon as Mygar came out of the minefield, he found a mounted Tyfirian soldier already galloping towards him with a long lance in hand. Mygar quickly drew one of his swords and kicked his horse's side. The black animal picked up speed, but the Tyfirian was undaunted. He knew his weapon had the greater reach and therefore he had the advantage. The soldier lowered his lance and aimed for the demon's heart, but it never found its mark. Moments before the lance pierced him Mygar struck the bottom of the tip of the lance with his blade and pushed it up causing it to miss him completely. The Siragon continued to drag his sword across the bottom of the lance until he was within striking distance of the soldier. He then pulled his sword away as he passed the horseman and without looking he swung his weapon backward and separated the Tyfirian's head from his shoulders.

Mygar's stroke had fell with such force that the soldier's head would have hit Link had he not ducked in time. Instead, the head flew past Link, hit the ground, and continued to roll until it passed under the legs of Zelda's horse. Though the head was no threat, Zelda's knowledge of what the object was caused her to pull back hard on the reigns of her horse until it reared up on its hind legs, lost balance, and fell over. Zelda was quick to get back to her feet, but as she stood up she discovered a Sirgon racing towards her with its sword drawn. Even though the very sight of the Siragon terrified her to no end, she somehow managed to summon up enough courage to fight her attacker. The princess managed to draw her light-weight sword and block the beast's first attack and then she launched an attack of her own, but it was blocked as well. The two circled around one another and exchanged blows until finally Zelda managed to push the demon backwards into the minefield with a well placed kick. The Siragon tripped one of the explosives and disappeared in a flash of smoke and flame. The demons blue blood and innards then sprayed in all directions.

As Zelda saw the scattered pieces of what was once a Siragon soldier, she wanted to throw up, but she forced herself to regain her composure. She knew she could not afford to dwell on what she had just witnessed. The princess quickly mounted her horse, which had already picked itself up, and began to look around for Link. To her horror she could not find the hero anywhere. Soon, the same panic that had taken hold over so many of the soldiers was starting to claim Zelda. She ran around the pass aimlessly, hoping only to avoid running into any other Siragons. Fortunately for her, before long she located the green clad warrior near the trees on the west side of the pass. He was dueling Mygar on horseback. He was swinging ferociously at the Siragon general with his sword, but he couldn't land any of his blows, but his attacks were so fast and close together that Mygar was stuck on defense. He was completely unable to launch any attacks of his own.

"It's strange Link," Mygar said as his sword clashed with Link's, "We have met on the battlefield many times and yet there has never been a clear victor in any of our duels."

"Than I will have to make sure we never run into each other again," Link growled as he swung at his adversary again.

"My thoughts exactly," Mygar laughed, "but there are too many hazards out here. It would be far too likely for a stray arrow to claim one of our lives. I don't want any of my soldiers to kill you. I want that honor for myself." With that, Mygar blocked one more of Link's blows then kicked his horses side and rode of into the nearby trees. Link wasted no time in chasing after his old enemy, nor did Zelda waste time chasing after Link.

* * *

"Maintain the defensive perimeter!" general Syrus shouted to his men as another wave of Siragon arrows flew through the arrow and claimed the lives of many Tyfirian soldiers. Fear was begging to spread through the Tyfirian ranks as they tried to defend themselves, but admittedly they were much calmer than their Asrean counterparts, most of which were more concerned with escaping than defending themselves.

The Tyfirians managed to remain organized until the Siragons began throwing grenades into their midst. Before long, Syrus was forced to order his troops to scatter in order to decrease the effectiveness of the grenades. Syrus had already guessed that the demons were after Ekrin and in an attempt to make sure the blacksmith remained safe, he kept him close by as met and killed many Siragons in battle, but no matter how many of the beasts he slew, they kept coming. The general soon began to tire from all the fighting, but he refused to submit to his foes.

It was not until a group of three Siragons attacked from behind and latched on to Syrus's back that he was finally brought down. The demons swiftly bound the general's hands, but Syrus kept struggling to get away. One of the Siragons then pulled a glass vile from his belt and threw it at the ground in front of Syrus. When the vile broke, it released a white gas. Once Syrus inhaled some the gas he quickly lost consciousness. After the general was captured, the Sirgons caught Ekrin with ease.

"We have what we came for," the Siragon who had released the gas called to his men, "let's pull out!" One of the Siragons then blew a horn and the demons immediately began to retreat. In less than a minute all of the Siragons had completely vanished into the western forest.


	6. Chapter Six: The Hero and the Heretic

**Chapter Six: The Hero and the Heretic **

Link kicked Epona's side as she darted through the mess of trees in pursuit of general Mygar. The hero had lost sight of his old enemy when he entered the forest, but Link could still hear the demon taunting him.

"Don't fall behind," Mygar laughed still obscured by the trees. Link did not respond. He was too busy determining where his foe was to be worried about speaking back. Link rode through the woods for nearly twenty minutes without so much as catching a glimpse of Mygar, but the Siragon general continued to taunt him to reassure the Hylian that he was still nearby. It was not until Link stumbled upon a set of horse tracks that Mygar finally fell silent. Due to the snow, which covered the mountainside, Link had no trouble following the tracks. He trailed the imprints to a large rock formation, where they went right up to the face of large cliff and then suddenly stopped.

Link was a bit confused at first until he realized the distance between the hoof prints indicated the horse was still running when it came to the cliff face and their were absolutely no signs that the steed had attempted to stop. Link then kicked Epona's side and charged the cliff. As the hero expected when he came to the cliff wall he passed right through and found himself in a well-lit cave. The wall was no more than an illusion.

"I bet this is why no Siragon encampments have been found," Link said to himself, "They probably have them all hidden using similar tricks." The floor of the cave was composed of solid rock and was not covered by any snow, so there were no longer any tracks to follow, but the cave was little more than a tunnel, with no offshoots, meaning Mygar could have only gone one way. Link slowly made his way through the cave, half expecting a legion of Siragons to ambush him, but no ambush ever came. Link spent about a half-hour making his way through the tunnel. Many parts of the path were on an extremely steep incline and rather than continue to ride Epona, Link dismounted and led his trusty companion up the mountain path.

When Link finally came to the cave's exit, He found a pitch-black horse with no rider. As Link left the cave he looked all around for Mygar's tracks, but found nothing. It was not until he actually stepped several feet out from the cave that he noticed a pair of large gashes in the trunks of a couple trees. The same marks were found on more trees close by, which seemed to form a trail. Link guessed the gashes had been made by some sort of sword and he decided his best bet to find Mygar was to follow the slashes.

Link once again mounted Epona and made his way through the forest, carefully following the marks on the trees. The warrior followed the path for another ten minutes until he saw a clearing. The clearing extended twenty feet to the edge of a tall cliff where the ground abruptly dropped off. Link sighed as he approached the clearing. He thought he had lost his quarry that is until Mygar suddenly jumped down from of one of the trees and kicked him off Epona. Mygar then smacked Epona's side with the broad side of his sword. The mare reared back on her hind legs and then darted off back into the woods.

"At last, we finish this," Mygar growled as Link got back on his feet. "I have been waiting for what feels like an eternity for this."

"As have I," Link said as he drew his sword and shield. As the two enemies crossed swords, Link noticed the Siragon's eyes no longer glowed with the demonic red light that they had been burning with not an hour previous. Link ignored the slight change in the demon's appearance and prepared to fight.

"It is a shame it has to end like this," Mygar said coldly, "You are the closest thing I have ever had to an actual opponent." Mygar then swung one of his blades at Link, but the hero easily turned it aside. The Siragon looked at Link for a few moments without moving and though his face was completely covered, Link could tell he was grinning underneath his helmet. Then Mygar suddenly unleashed his onslaught. His blades became a blur and Link found himself being pushed back towards the edge of the cliff. Link knew he could not continue to lose ground, so he pulled out his hookshot and fired it at a tree branch at the edge of the clearing. Within seconds the hero was back in the trees, leaving Mygar near the drop off. Link then charged the demon and Mygar in turn charged at the Hylian. The two met in the middle of the clearing and began to exchange ferocious blows.

As Link looked at the Mygar while they dueled, he thought about how the demon was responsible for the destruction of so many nations and the deaths of thousands of individuals and an intense anger began to swell within him. He started attacking faster while still managing to block both of Mygar's swords. Eventually, Mygar found himself backing up and before long he was mere feet from the cliff. Link saw his opportunity and charged at the demon in an attempt to knock him of the cliff, but Mygar was too fast. The demon dropped low to the ground and swung his leg around, tripping Link and causing him to crash onto the ground and to drop his sword. Mygar tried to run the hero through with one of his swords, but Link managed to roll away before the stoke fell. Mygar plunged his blade in the snow and frozen earth, but before he could pull it out, Link was back on his feet with his sword in hand. He swung at the demon hoping his blow would find its mark with one of Mygar's blades stuck in the ground, but the demon blocked Link's attack with his second sword.

Link then realized he would never get a decent kill stroke in unless he got at least one of the swords away from his enemy. The hero then started to attack in a way that forced Mygar to use only the blade in his right hand. Link kept attacking in that manner until he finally managed to drag his sword across Mygar's right elbow. The cut was not deep, but it was enough to cause the demon to drop one of his weapons.

"Well played," Mygar growled as he backed away panting. Link too backed up a little, in hopes of getting a little break before the battle resumed. Once Link had rested a bit he held up his sword in order to start attacking again, but before he did he noticed the blood that was on his blade was not blue as he expected it to be, but instead, it was red. Link looked at Mygar confused, but the Siragon only laughed.

"Yes that is correct," Mygar said, "I am not one of them. I am a Hylian like you."

Link shook his head for a few moments until he finally managed to utter the words, "That can not be true. If you are Hylian why do you aid the Siragons and why would those demons follow you?"

"You still know so little," Mygar chuckled. "Why do still call your enemies the Siragons? It is time you call them by their proper name. The Ulgerons." Link knew he had heard the term Ulgerons before, but he could not recall from where.

"You can not honestly tell me you do not know about the Ulgerons," Mygar continued. "I suppose it does not matter anyway. I will soon have your soul and your Triforce piece and by that time it won't really matter what you know."

"How do you know of my piece of the Triforce?" Link asked. He had suspected since his run in with Mygar in Carthor that the general knew about his connection to the Triforce, but Link wanted to know how he found out.

"I think you would be surprised by how much I know about you," Mygar said. "In truth, I would bet you would be surprised by how much you know about me."

"What are you talking about?" Link yelled. He was becoming frustrated; he was greatly confused by what Mygar was saying.

Mygar laughed a bit at Link's lack of understanding. "You are a man of honor, Link," Mygar said. "Before I take the Triforce of Courage, I want you to know why I need it and what I intend do with it. Rest assured it will be used to save this world from the Ulgerons, not destroy it.

"You lie," Link growled.

"No," Mygar said, "at last you will be able to see past the lies and the truth will finally be revealed to you." Mygar then removed his faceplate and took off his helmet. The lower half of his face was wrapped in a long black cloth and the top of his head was covered with a black bandanna. It was at that moment that Link realized he had never actually seen so much as an ounce of Mygar's flesh, so it was entirely possible that the Siragon was actually a Hylian.

Mygar then grabbed the top of the cloth that covered the lower half of his face and pulled it down. The instant he did so, Link was struck with disbelief as he looked upon the deathly pale face of an old enemy he long supposed to be dead.

"Ormek?" Link said in shock. "How is that possible? You died back in the pits of despair, back in Tyfiria. I saw you die."

"Did you really?" Ormek asked rhetorically. "All you saw was a sudden eruption of acid. When your view was no longer impeded, I was gone. I only needed a second to escape. The eruption allowed me to jump through a false wall that I created before hand, similar to the one you encountered earlier, and on to a safe landing. You of all people, Link, should know not to count someone as dead unless you get a good solid look at their cold lifeless body.

"Yes, Link you failed to finish me off, in fact you walked right into my trap back on that day. Did you not notice that I was significantly slower during our duel in the pits?" Link thought back to the day he thought he had defeated Ormek and remembered that the Tyfirian had seemed much weaker than the two times he had fought him before that.

"Not only did you fail to defeat me three and a half years ago, you also failed to accomplish your main objective."

"It can not be," Link said under his breath as he began to realize what Ormek was about to say next.

"It is so," Ormek said as he held up his right hand and the symbol of the Triforce appeared. Link then watched in horror, as the usually empty upside down triangle in the middle of the Triforce began to glow.

"You still have the Triforce of Knowledge?" Link said in utter disbelief. "How did you get it back, the gate to the secluded part of the Sacred Realm was locked forever when I used the Talon of Soarlec to return the Triforce of Knowledge there."

"True," Ormek admitted, "you did permanently seal off that part of the Realm, but you never returned the Triforce of Knowledge there. When we fought in the pits of despair I did not have the golden power with me.

"After king Talrid was released and the Tyfirians turned on me, I knew I had lost my chance to destroy Cyntir. I was also aware that so long as my enemies knew I was alive, they would never stop hunting me. So I decided to fake my death. I planned to return to Cyntir and destroy it after I was presumed dead, but I know how resilient you are Link and I knew you would not stop your pursuit of me until you thought you had returned the Triforce of Knowledge to its place. I decided to separate myself from it and hide it away. I would not risk losing the only thing that could guarantee my revenge.

"Once I had rid myself of the Triforce I regained the ability to use magic. I created that fake wall and cast a spell on myself that I had discovered while I still had possession of the Triforce of Knowledge that would react with the Talon of Soarlec if its magic were used on me. The spell was designed to make it appear as if it the Talon had worked and it also would destroy the Talon.

"Still I hoped that I would be able to defeat you and take the Triforce of Courage from you in the pits. Even though I did not have a piece of the Triforce to counteract yours, but you proved too powerful, yet you thought you had defeated me and that was the thing I truly sought. Though now I wish you had caught onto my plan and truly killed me. For I escaped to bring the horror of the Ulgerons back to this world.

"Your failure and my anger have brought back an ancient evil and the Ulgerons now seek to finish what they started thousands of years ago." Link was speechless; he still could not believe that Ormek was alive let alone that he still possessed the Triforce of Knowledge. He was also very confused by what Ormek was saying about the Ulgerons. Ormek could tell by looking at Link's face that he did not understand.

"How much do you know about the Triforce of Knowledge Link?" Ormek inquired of his enemy.

"I know that it is not safe in your hands," Link retorted.

"Allow me then, to shed some light on the origins of the relic," Ormek said coldly. "The Triforce of Knowledge was created by the god of knowledge, Sokor. He was the brother of the three goddesses who are accredited with creating this world."

As Ormek spoke, Link began to recall the things that Kaepora Gaebora had told him three and a half years ago, right after Ormek first stole the Triforce of Knowledge. Nevertheless, Link felt compelled to let the demon general continue.

"Sokor valued knowledge above all other things in existence," Ormek proceeded. "He dedicated his existence to acquiring new information. With the knowledge he obtained, Sokor created many worlds and many of those worlds he populated with beings that were also of his making. He conducted horrible experiments on those creatures, he tortured them and mutilated them, all so he could gain more knowledge and increase his understanding of this universe.

"Sokor's sisters were greatly saddened by his disrespect for his own creations. In an attempt to show their brother the error of his ways, they created this world to show their brother that while knowledge was important there were other things of equal if not greater value, such as wisdom, courage, and the power of the heart. The goddesses' world was full of beauty and peace, two aspects that all of Sokor's worlds lacked. Still, Sokor was not convinced. He mocked his sisters' creations and then in an attempt to show how great his knowledge was, he tried to create a world with greater splendor than that of his sisters', but he failed.

"He tried time and time again to replicate the peace and the beauty, but he could not. Eventually Sokor realized that he could not match his sisters' work, but Sokor would not allow his sisters to best him. The god could have easily conquered this world by himself, but he thought is was beneath him to fight with the beings his sister's made, so Sokor brought the Ulgerons, one of the races he created while trying to replicate his sisters' world, here.

"The Ulgerons immediately began their war. They fought with all of their might and killed many people, but the civilized races were united against their common enemy and drew their strength from the Triforce that the goddesses had left behind. Sokor realized that the Ulgerons could not prevail against the other races as long as they possessed the power of the golden power, so he created the Triforce of Knowledge and infused it with a portion of his spirit. He then united his piece with the rest of the Triforce. The other golden triangles were corruptred by the Triforce of Knowledge and the alliance of races lost a great deal of their strength as Sokor's triangle drained the Triforce of its power and transferred it to the Ulgerons.

"The tide of the war had turned and the Ulgerons began to conquer the races one by one until only the Hylians and the Sheikah remained. Before they could be utterly destroyed, the last two races retreated to a fortress that was built by the goddesses themselves, Ulron-Chi. The Hylians and Sheikah managed to hold off the Ulgerons for years, but the demons never stopped their siege. In the final battle of the war, the Ulgerons managed to make it all the way to the fortresses keep. Before they could take the keep, Soarlec the phoenix, a former servant of the goddesses, came to the Sacred Realm and removed the Triforce of Knowledge from the other pieces and sanctified the rest of the Triforce. Without the Triforce of Knowledge siphoning power from the other pieces, the Ulgerons withered and the Hylians and Sheikah managed to force them back.

"The phoenix then took the fourth piece to a secluded part of the Sacred Realm and formed a protective barrier around it, leaving only one passage to the Triforce of Knowledge, the entrance to which was hidden in our world.

"Sokor was angered greatly by the phoenix's interference. In his fury he attacked Soarlec. Sokor tried to seal Soarlec in the gap between the dimensions, but in the process he was dragged down into the abyss as well."

"I have heard this legend before," Link growled, "Though I had forgotten the fortress where the Ulgerons suffered defeat was Ulron-Chi. Now I understand why the Ulgerons want to conquer the fortress."

"You have not yet begun to understand!" Ormek yelled. "While the Ulgerons like the prospect of succeeding where they have failed in the past, they have larger goals in mind.

"For the past three years they have been looking for certain objects that were left behind after the battle between Soarlec and Sokor. These objects are like keys, which will open the gate where the god and the phoenix were sucked into the nothingness.

"All of the Ulgerons past conquests have been for the purpose of obtaining these keys. Eight keys are needed to open the gate, seven dark stones and another object of great power. The demons have six of the keys, the seventh they have tracked to Ulron-Chi and the eighth they have not yet discovered the location, but they will not rest until they find it. Once they have all of the keys they will release Sokor from his dark prison and begin their conquest again, but Sokor will leave nothing to chance this time. He will not seek to enslave the races of this world as he did before. He will call for their extermination. He will not sit idly as the Ulgerons wage their war this time, this time he will fight along side them and their will be no way to defeat him.

"This Sokor's power can not match that of the golden goddesses," Link replied. "They defeated him once before they can defeat him again."

"The goddesses can do nothing," Ormek said as he shook his head. "They have been imprisoned in the abyss as well. Before Sokor descended on this world, he enclosed his sisters in the gap between dimensions. He did not want them interfering with his conquest of their world. He thought that by sealing them away he would have no one to rival him. However he did not count on Soarlec's loyalty to them after they were gone.

"You lie," Link growled, "you are nothing more than a common heretic."

"Am I?" Ormek asked grimly, "If the goddesses were still around they never would have allowed me to bring the Ulgerons back. Face it Link. There are no all-powerful beings looking after us anymore, we are all on our own. Listen to the Triforce of Courage, it will testify of Farore's absence." For some reason at that moment, Link could feel that Farore was in fact gone. He did not know about Din and Nayru, but he was certain Ormek had told the truth regarding the goddess of Courage.

"If everything you are telling me is the truth, why are you telling me at all?" Link said confused, "Revealing your plan to unleash Sokor only increases your chances of defeat."

"Precisely," Ormek smirked, "We can not allow Sokor to be freed."

"Then why have you been aiding the Ulgerons all this time?" Link inquired.

"After you beat me at the pits of despair," Ormek said, "I recovered the Triforce of Knowledge from its hiding spot and slipped out of Tyfiria. I planned to return to my home once I had developed another plan to destroy Cyntir, but before I could, I started to hear a voice inside my head. The voice told me that it could help me destroy my enemies, but it also said that the evil in this world was not concentrated solely in Cyntir, but it was scattered all over the face of the earth and for that reason the world must be cleansed.

"The voice told me the hearts of all the civilized races were corrupt and must be destroyed for the crimes they had committed against each other. I tried to ignore this voice at first. I thought that it spoke only lies, but the voice persisted. At first I only heard the voice once every few days, but as time lingered on, I heard it more frequently, until finally I could not go one hour with out hearing its prompting. Still, I resisted, I would not be the instrument of the destruction of this world, but the presence had other tricks.

"Do you remember Link, how I told you that the Triforce of Knowledge showed to me all the injustices that were done to my people, back when we fought in Cantarus?"

"I remember," Link nodded.

"Soon after I took back the Triforce of Knowledge the visions began again, but this time it showed me all the horrors that ever took place in this world. For days on end I saw nothing, but hatred, greed, lies, and corruption. Eventually I was convinced that the inhabitants of the earth must be brought to justice for their crimes, just as the voice said. I swore to the presence inside me that I would help destroy the civilized races. The voice then revealed itself to be none other than Sokor.

"I immediately began to do his will. With his directions I managed to revive the Ulgerons and begin collecting the keys needed to release Sokor as well as many other powerful relics created by the Ulgerons thousands of years ago. For two and half years I diligently executed my orders, but as I did, I realized the Ulgerons' hearts were filled with more evil than those I sought to destroy. Still, I remained resolute. I would not stop my conquest until the earth was cleansed. As I continued to collect the Ulrian relics, Sokor ordered me to do many dishonorable things. I started ignoring my orders and began acting according to my own conscience. Sokor became furious with me tried to control me through the portion of his spirit that resided within the Triforce of Knowledge.

"I managed to fend him off at first, but the longer I possessed the Triforce of Knowledge, the stronger Sokor's spirit grew. Before long I could not hold the god at bay, until I discovered that the souls I had taken could provide me with a mental barrier that would shield me from Sokor's mind control attempts. Even after all this, my thirst for revenge still had control over me and I continued to seek the release of Sokor and the destruction of this world. But no longer will I aid the god or his Ulgerons."

"What finally caused you to have this change of heart?" Link asked suspiciously.

Ormek stood silent for several seconds as if he didn't know how to respond. "I have… my reasons," He finally said, "They are of little importance to you."

"You can not expect me to believe this," Link said with a half smile. "I do not know what you are trying to accomplish with these lies, but I will not believe them. If you were sincere in your claims why do you still fight on the Ulgerons side?"

"I hold a very influential position in Siragoth, the land where the Ulgerons reside" Ormek answered, "I can do more damage within their ranks, but as of late I have been having trouble maintaining my cover. Sokor and many of the Ulgerons are starting to suspect I am no longer on their side. And that is where you come in Link.

"Sokor's soul is still growing stronger and I need more souls to fend him off, but I am having trouble acquiring the amount I need to hold him back. However, with the Triforce of Courage at my disposal I would no longer need so many souls. I would be able to silence Sokor's voice and destroy the Ulgerons from the inside."

"Why tell me all this?" Link asked.

"You are a man of great honor and a remarkable warrior. You could be a great asset to me in my fight against the Ulgerons," Ormek answered. "I want to offer you a chance to join me. Give me the Triforce of Courage and we can destroy the demons of Siragoth together."

"You must think me a fool," Link said with an angry look on his face. "I have seen all the things you have done to the people of this world. You can not possibly expect me to believe your lies."

"I have told you only the truth," Ormek replied somberly, "but I do not blame you for not believing me, I did not think you would. I have done many terrible things and few people know of the atrocities I have committed better than you do. If I were in your position, I would be distrustful of my words as well, but I swear to you on my grandfather's grave, every word I have spoken is true."

"Prove it," Link said, "give up the Triforce of Knowledge. Give me the power to defend the civilized races and come back to Ulron-Chi with me. Teach the garrison there how to create and use your weapons. You do not need the Triforce of Knowledge. There is more than one way to defeat the Ulgerons."

Ormek seemed stunned by Link's words. He looked at the symbol of the Triforce on his hand uneasily. "I will not go back to the ignorance I once knew," he said, "I will not give up my knowledge!"

"Just as I thought," Link said, just loud enough for Ormek to hear.

"I don't need your help anyway," Ormek said with a scowl. "So what do you say hero?" The false demon said with a sudden change in his tone of voice, "How about we finish the duel we started back in the pits of despair. We each get one weapon; winner gets the loser's Triforce. However, this time, I will allow the use of magic."

"Why?" Link asked suspiciously, "The Triforce of Knowledge prevents you from using any magic that is not contained within the triangle."

"Quite so," Ormek said. "Back during the first war of the Ulgerons, the demons created several items which allowed them to extend the power of the Triforce of Knowledge. I have located many of these Ulrian relics, but this one here is my favorite." Ormek then pulled out a ring made of plain steel from a pouch attached to his belt.

"This is the ring of souls," Ormek pointed out, "This is the relic that enables me to take the souls of others and add their knowledge to my own, but it will also allow me to extract the Triforce of Courage from you along with your soul. It may not be a very useful magic power in a one on one battle, but I want to make sure we have a level playing field." Ormek then slipped the ring over his right index finger. As soon as he did the hellish red light returned to his eyes.

"Now, let's finish this," Ormek said in a familiar metallic voice that Link had heard him use in Tyfira. "Kal teth ulkor," He then said in the Ulrian tongue.

"Bring it on," said Link confidently as he put away his shield and raised his sword. Ormek sheathed one of his swords and picked the other one out of the snow. He shot an angry glance at the Hyrulian and attacked.

"Where did Link go?" Zelda mumbled under her breath as she rode her horse through the forest. She had been following Link ever since he chased after Mygar into the woods. She followed Epona's tracks to a large rock formation, but the tracks suddenly stopped once they reached the rock wall. Zelda had spent the last half an hour riding around the cliff, but she could find no other trace of Link.

* * *

"I give up," Zelda said to her horse as she dismounted to stretch her legs. As she walked around, she slipped in the snow and fell forward. The princess tried to catch herself on the rock formation, but as she reached out to stop herself, she passed right through the illusionary rock. She fell, face first into the hidden cave and hit the ground with enough force to knock her helmet off. Zelda picked herself up and looked around the cave in a daze. It did not take her long to realize the wall she had fallen through was just a magic trick. She then quickly left the cave, remounted her horse, and then entered the cave once more.

She made her way through the cave just as Link had done before, but when she finally emerged she discovered Epona standing at the exit with out her rider. Zelda tried to approach the horse while still a top her own, but as she got close, Epona darted off into the woods. Zelda followed Link's horse to the clearing near the cliff and found her friend locked in battle with another Hylian dressed in Siragon clothing. Zelda started to wonder why Link was fighting the stranger, but as she watched she noticed that Link was stuck defending himself as the Hylian in black continued to attack.

The princess was not about to watch her friend suffer defeat. She then dismounted her horse drew her sword and charged into battle. She was within striking range when Ormek drew his second sword and blocked her attack before she could do any damage. It was not until Ormek blocked Zelda's blade that Link realized the princess was there. He looked at Zelda in terror as if to ask, what are you doing here?"

"Sorry, this is a private session," Ormek said with a smile, "we're closed." Ormek then swung one of his swords at Zelda. He fully expected that the woman would be unable to defend herself, but he was stunned when, Zelda countered his attack and knocked the sword out of his hand. Ormek quickly pulled back as both Link and Zelda started to attack him.

"Get out of here!" Link ordered Zelda as they fought beside each other. "You do not know what you are getting into."

"I know that I can help you beat this guy," The princess retorted, "That's all I need to know." Link did not say anything more, he was not sure if he could beat Ormek on his own, and though he was worried that Zelda might get hurt if she continued to fight, he was even more concerned that Ormek might defeat him and steal the Triforce of Courage.

While Ormek managed to defend himself from both of his attackers, he was forced to expend all of his energy blocking the swords of both his enemies and ended up falling back towards the edge of the woods where Zelda's horse was. He was tiring quickly, but he was not about to give up.

"The deal is off Link," Ormek said while still trying to defend himself, "This is no longer a duel and I will no longer constrain myself to one weapon." Ormek then kicked some snow in the faces of his opponents, they were blinded for less than a second, but it gave Ormek enough time to start a series of back flips, which quickly carried him away from his enemies. In the middle of one of his flips he tossed one of his grenades towards his adversaries. The grenade rolled a few feet past them before it exploded. Both of Ormek's enemies tried to jump away from the explosive before it detonated, but it was no use. The force of the blast knocked both Link and Zelda back. Link collided with a tree and hit his head on it, knocking him out cold, while a piece of shrapnel cut through Zelda's left thigh. Another piece of shrapnel tore right through the mid-section of Zelda's horse and the steed collapsed uselessly on the ground.

"You are a brave, woman indeed," Ormek said as he approached Zelda with his right arm outstretched ready to capture another soul, "but also very foolish."

"Oh really?" Zelda said with a smile. "She then placed both arms in front of her and began to chant. Before Ormek could reach her, an orb of white light formed and slammed into the general knocking him back ten feet. Ormek let out a cry of surprise mixed with pain as he hit the ground.

At this moment, Link regained consciousness. He awoke in time to see Zelda hold out her right hand and watched in horror as she revealed the symbol of the Triforce of Wisdom to Ormek.

"Behold," Zelda said triumphantly, "I am the keeper of the Triforce of Wisdom."

Ormek's eyes widened as he heard those words and a large smile came across his face. "If I did not already know the golden goddesses were sealed in the abyss, I would say they were smiling upon me." Ormek said and then jumped back on his feet and rushed toward Zelda, picking up his second sword off the ground as he did so. Zelda fired another burst of light at the Tyfirian, but he threw himself to the side and evaded it. By that time he was in striking distance. He jumped high up in the air and was about to bring both of his blades down on the princess, when Link stopped both of Ormek's swords with his own.

The two then reverted back to a duel as Zelda watched in awe as she saw how swiftly they were swinging their swords, but as she watched she quickly realized Link was retreating back towards the cliff. She began chanting again as she formed another orb of light, but she waited until she had a clear shot at Ormek to fire. As she fired, Zelda felt drained of all her energy and knew she could not help Link any further. Once the princess's burst reached Ormek, he immediately became aware of the new danger. He managed to dodge the orb, but in doing so he ended up balancing himself on the edge of the cliff. Link immediately took advantage of the situation and swung at the general. Ormek blocked the blow, but he lost his footing and started to fall, but he managed to plunge one of his blades into the cliff wall before he fell too far.

Link did not expect Ormek had fallen to his death, but he knew he was too tired to protect both himself and the princess from the general. The cut in Zelda's leg was fairly deep. She was unable to stand and was losing a large amount of blood. Link knew he had to get away, he could not allow Ormek get either the Triforce of Courage or Wisdom, so he whistled for Epona who quickly made her way over to him. By the time Link managed to get Zelda up on Epona's back, Ormek had already lifted himself back on top of the cliff. Once he saw Link was trying to escape he called for his horse as well.

Link mounted and kicked Epona's side before Ormek's steed arrived. Epona bolted into the woods immediately. Link wanted to make his way back to the hidden cavern, but as he was looking for the markings on the tree that would lead him back there he heard the sound of Ormek's horse galloping towards him. Link pointed Epona in a random direction and kicked her side.

While Epona could have easily out raced Ormek's steed in normal circumstances, she was slowed considerably by the burden of two riders. Before long, Ormek could see his quarry through the trees. As Link was trying to escape he noticed that Zelda was starting to lose consciousness.

"She is losing too much blood," Link thought to himself, "I need to bandage her wound, but I can not do so until I lose Ormek." Less than a minute later, Link came to a narrow bridge of ice, which extended across a large chasm. He rode Epona over the patch and then dropped a bomb behind him. When the bomb exploded, the ice bridge collapsed and stopped Ormek's pursuit immediately.

"Blaaaaaaast!" Ormek screamed at the top of his longs as he watched his prey ride off into the distance. He then pulled the black cloth over the lower half of his face and then replaced his helmet, which he had picked up while waiting for his horse at the clearing.

"I will not let you get away that easily, old friend," Ormek said under his breath as he stood at the edge of the chasm. "There is too much at stake.


	7. Chapter Seven: The Demons' Snare

Author's Note: Wow! This chapter was a lot more challenging to write than I thought it would be. Since I haven't written anything for two years I was feeling really rusty while creating this chapter, so if it seems a little sub-par, I'm blaming it on my long absence.

Anyways, sorry it took me so long to get this done, I've had a lot to worry about recently, plus the chapter ended up being longer than I thought it would be, not that, that's a bad thing.

Also, Sorry, but there's no Link this time, so you'll have to wait till the following chapter before you get to see what's going on with him and Zelda. All right everyone, here it is, two years in the making... chapter seven.

**Chapter Seven: The Demons' Snare**

"Kaltek, morik nar!" Ormek cursed in Ulrian as he raced back and forth across the ridge of the ice encrusted canyon. "I was so close!" he continued in the common tongue. "There's got to be a way across this blasted chasm." The general said as he finally dismounted his horse and drew one of his swords. He then walked up to a tall tree near the canyon's edge and began hacking away at it with his blade. Once he made a large enough notch, Ormek took one of the grenades attached to his belt, activated it and placed it in the cut. He then quickly placed a safe distance between himself and the tree. Seconds later the grenade detonated with a force strong enough to break through the remainder of the tree's base, causing it to come crashing down. The tree was just long enough that when it fell it reached the other rim of the canyon, forming a makeshift bridge.

Ormek again mounted his horse and was about to cross the gap when he heard a familiar voice. "Mygar!"

"What is it, Ulgor?" Ormek replied, though there was no one near him.

"Where have you been?" Ulgor's voice said. "I've been trying to contact you for two hours, now."

"I didn't have the ring on," Ormek replied.

"What?!" Ulgor growled, "Why in the world would you do that?! You know how critical it is to have good communication during a war! Especially when were about to make such a crucial move. What were you doing with the ring off?!"

"I needed some time by myself to refine the plan for the rest of the siege," Ormek growled, "It's impossible to come up with anything useful with you and Torqin keep bothering every five seconds with your moronic comments!"

"I don't believe you!" Ulgor barked.

"Well that's hardly my problem, is it?" Mygar said emotionlessly.

Ulgor replied by muttering to himself for a second and then said in a much calmer tone, "Word of our recent capture of the two Tyfirians has reached Ulron-Chi. Vilamaros and his brother have left the fortress with ten thousand men following them. They will arrive at the appointed place in another few hours."

"Ten thousand," Ormek said in amazement, "That's impossible. How could they have readied so many men so quickly?"

"You seem concerned," The voice of Ulgor said calmly. "Are you worried that you won't be able to handle so many warriors? Or, is it something…else?"

"I am not worried," Ormek answered sternly. "My plan will not fail. Ulron-Chi will fall, along with Anthros's ten thousand."

"I'm glad to hear it," Ulgor said with a slight chuckle. "Now get back to base as quickly as possible. You wouldn't want miss the fruition of your own plan would you?"

"Don't you ever get tired of taunting me, Ulgor?" Ormek recoiled.

"What's the matter, hylian?" Ulgor said with a mocking tone. "Don't you look forward to killing thousands of members of your own race? As well as hundreds who belong to who knows what other races. It will be a glorious day indeed.

"Yes it will be," Ormek replied.

"If it actually works that is," Ulgor laughed. "I'm certain it won't though. And once you fail, you'll be off the high council in a matter of seconds. Then all of Siragoth will see how useless you…"

"Be silent!" Ormek growled as he pulled the steel ring from his finger. As soon as he did the voice of Ulgor faded. The general turned his horse towards the canyon. He paused for a moment and contemplated following after his prey. He groaned with dissatisfaction and turned in the opposite direction and kicked his horse's side. "Another time, Link," Ormek thought to himself.

"The Siragons retreated through this pass only a few hours ago," the goron, Magmus, stated as he pointed towards the snow covered path that cut through the mountain.

"This is impossible," Prince Anthros said in frustration. "The Siragons have remained still for months, never making a move and then they suddenly attack the one supply convoy that happens to have the two of the only men in the world with any understanding of their weaponry.

"This was no coincidence," Anthros said turning to his brother, "We have a spy in our ranks, Vilamaros."

"Don't be ridiculous," Vilamaros chuckled. "No demon could blend in with our men."

"I'm not talking about a demon," Anthros countered. "One of our own men must be helping the Siragons, maybe even one of the higher ranking officers. After all, the journey of Syrus and Ekrin to Ulron-Chi was kept secret from everyone, but the captains."

"Those tricky demons have other ways of getting information," Vilamaros offered. "Besides, what man of ours would be far enough out of his mind to help these destructive creatures? They all know the Siragons will never rest until every last civilized race is destroyed."

"I've suspected we've had a traitor in our midst for quite sometime now," Anthros replied. "Our enemies seem to know how to counter every strategy we come up with, well before we even set our plans in motion. We definitely have some kind of information leak.

"If we do have a spy problem," Vilmaros said with a faint smile, "I'm sure you'll find out who it is soon enough."

"I appreciate your confidence in me," Anthros said as he smiled back.

The two brothers, along with the goron and the ten thousand troops then proceeded to make their way through the mountain pass. Many of the men, such as the two princes rode atop their horses, making it easier for them to plow through the white powder, while Magmus and several other gorons used their powerful limbs to clear a path for the rest of the legion through snow.

"I must say," Magmus interjected as the troops slowly made their way through the mountains, "I'm impressed how quickly you were able assemble an army this large. How on earth did you do it?  
"My men are always ready for battle," Anthros answered, "regardless of the season, or time of day, or anything else."

"Why did you even bring so many men with you?" the zoran warrior Targas asked, "If it were up to me, I would have brought fewer men, every one of them on horse back. That way we could travel faster, catch up to our foes, and liberate their pathetic captives."

"I don't just intend on retaking the captives, Targas," Anthros retorted, "We're going to follow the Siragons' trail to their base and flush them out of the mountains and rid ourselves of their loathsome presence."

"And you think ten thousand is enough to do that?" Gilthas inquired. "I can promise you there are far more demons than that in these mountains."

"We have to do something to put the Siragons on the defensive." Vilamaros interjected. "There is no way to win a war if we never get an opportunity to attack."

"Still," Gilthas said, "This doesn't seem like a sound strategy to me. We could be walking into a slaughter."

"Then why are you even following us?" Magmus said in frustration, "All you and your brother have done during this march, is complain about the princes' strategies. If you don't think it's going to work, why don't you two just leave.

"Because I want those slaves to realize that they still need the help of Cyntir to survive," Gilthas answered calmly.

"Based on the way you talk about the Tyfirians," Magmus replied, "It would seem as though Cyntir was country that was wronged and enslaved. How can you possibly be so angry at the Tyfirians for fighting for their freedom?"

"Don't be so naïve," Targas snapped, "The Tyfirians have been harassing us ever since they obtained their liberty. Thousands of our people have been killed by them even after Cyntir let them all go. They're the ones who are keeping the war going."

"Well, at least this war with the Siragons is bringing some level of peace between the two nations," Anthros chimed in.

"A temporary truce is all it is and nothing more," Gilthas responded. With that, no more comments were exchanged between the zoras and those around them. The two brothers remained silent for the rest of the march.

The army continued to advance for another two hours before they were met with couple of Asrean scouts coming from the other direction.

"Sires!" one of the scouts called out as they were approaching the two princes. "We've located the Siragon encampment not two miles from here. We also located the two Tyfirian captives."

"They're still alive?" Anthros asked anxiously.

"Yes your highness," the scout replied, "For the moment at least."

Anthros then turned his horse around to face the men behind him and shouted, "Pick up the pace men. The Siragon encampment is close. We're going to engage the enemy before nightfall. Now move!" The officers placed through out ranks immediately began to relay the order to the men. Within a minute, the army picked up speed and was quickly approaching their destination.

Anthros remained at the head of the troops as they emerged from the mountain pass and came into a large snow covered field. Not far off, Anthros spotted hundreds of tents and smoke coming from several fires that were being maintained across the Siragon camp.

"Men, draw your weapons!" Anthros commanded as he drew his sword. The Asrean soldiers immediately obeyed and readied their various arms.

"For years have these loathsome creatures ravaged our lands and destroyed our farms! They've murdered thousands of our countrymen, our fathers, our brothers, our sons! They've even stolen the very soul of our king!

"Ever have we lived in the shadow of Siragoth. Wherever they have attacked we have retreated, but no longer. For once the knights of Asrenath will be the first to strike and we will be victorious!" Anthros then let out a ferocious cry and charged the Siragon camp. His men then all courageously followed with the exception of Vilamaros who took the opportunity to separate himself from the army. His departure was relatively unnoticed except by, Targas.

The zora quickly grabbed the attention of his brother and the two of them followed the prince intently for several minutes. They were sure to keep their distance to avoid detection. It was not long before Vilamaros was greeted by two ulgeron foot-soldiers.

"Prince Vilamaros," one of the ulgerons said with a raspy voice. "General Mygar sends his condolences."

"For what?" Vilamaros asked confused.

"For the death of your brother," The other ulgeron laughed.

Vilamaros scowled at the two demons for a moment and said, "Just get me out of here."

"Of course, sire," The first ulgeron said mockingly as he bowed in an exaggerated manner. An ulgeron that had concealed himself in the nearby mountain rocks then sprung from his cover knocking the prince off his horse. The three demons then drew their swords, pointing them at the fallen hylian.

"What is the meaning of this?" Vilamaros asked in confusion.

"Just following orders," one of the Ulegerons answered. The demon then circled around his new captive and whacked him in the back of head with the hilt of his sword knocking Vilamaros out. One of the demons then grabbed Vilamaros's arms and lifted the prince on his back. The ulgerons carried him along the base of one of the mountains at the edge of the ice-field. They went several hundred feet before the Ulgerons took Vilamaros through one of the illusionary walls they had set up.

"Gilthas, let's get out of here. Quick, we've got to tell the Asreans!" Targas gasped after witnessing the event. The two zoras then darted toward the ulgeron encampment. At the same time Anthros was charging into the camp. He fully expected to be met with many swords and arrows, but as the Asreans rode in they were not met with any resistance.

"The camp is abandoned sir," One of the Asrean officers said.

"No," the scout replied, "It was swarming with demons an hour ago."

"It's a trap," Anthros whispered to himself. "It's a trap!" He then yelled out. "Get back to the pass!" The soldiers all then frantically turned around and started to retreat, but before they could get back to the cover of the mountains they heard a tremendous explosion. The Asreans could only watch in horror as the snow on the mountains on either side of the pass fell from the peaks, sealing off the path. As the noise from the avalanche cleared the Asreans could hear the distinct chanting of hundreds of voice.

"Moritak dashu! Moritak dashu!" The voices cried. Soon the Ulgerons revealed themselves from on the rock formations on the mountainside with weapons drawn.

"Anthros, how in the world did you manage to mobilize so many men in such a short amount of time?" Ormek shouted as he stepped out onto a cliff hundreds of feet above his foes. His face was completely covered as usual. He was also accompanied by Ulgor and Troqin who stood on either side of him. The formation of the rocks amplified the general's voice allowing all of the Asreans to hear him. Anthros remained silent, refusing to respond, and tensed his grip on his sword.

"You have been a worthy opponent, prince Anthros," Ormek continued. "I will consider your death a great loss. There are few men left in this world with you sense of duty. But you have been a thorn in Siragoth's side for far too long.

"You over estimate you strength!" Anthros shouted back. "You may have the high ground, but we have you hopelessly out-numbered.

"This isn't a matter of numbers, your highness," Ormek retorted. "We do not intend on engaging you in battle this day. The elements are going to do our fighting for us." Ormek then lifted his clenched fist in the air and shouted something in the ulgeron tongue. With in seconds the sound of dozens of explosions echoed across the vale, snow soon began to sliding of the mountain slopes. The Asrean ranks instantaneously erupted into chaos. Every soldier and horseman turned to run from the avalanche to try to find some kind of cover.

Gilthas and Targas had just made their way back to the army when this pandemonium began.  
"Ah, hell," Gilthas said as he saw the falling snow drifts tearing their way through the valley. "Targas, let's go back and follow the Siragons through that fake wall of theirs." He said almost too quickly for his brother to understand. The two zoras then began to retrace their steps until Targas spotted Anthros.

"Prince Anthros!" the scaly warrior yelled. "We've found cover! Follow me!" But the prince was too concerned with trying to find an escape for his men to listen. After he failed to grab Anthros's attention he plunged his hands into the snow at his feet. He quickly packed the snow into a ball and threw it at the prince. He missed his target and instead hit Magmus who was about five feet from Anthros. The goron turned towards Targas to discover the snowball's origin.

"Magmus!" Targas screamed, "Bring Anthros, we've found cover." Magmus quickly turned to the Asrean to relay the message, but he was too focused on rescuing the army to pay any attention. In frustration, the massive goron knocked Anthros off his horse with a forceful punch. He quickly helped his ally up, grabbed his wrist, and then started running after the zora brothers dragging Anthros behind him.

The four of them made it back to the hidden Ulgeron tunnel only seconds before the avalanche tore its way past. Snow quickly blocked up the hidden door way separating them from the rest of the army. On the other side, thousands of Asrean soldiers cried out as they were enveloped by the white clouds of the avalanche. Within minutes, the entire Asrean army had been obliterated, without a single ulgeron death.

"It appears as though we are victorious," General Ulgor said to Ormek, as they held their position on the mountain cliffs. "I still don't think the rest of your plan to capture Ulron-Chi will work. You were only lucky today."

Ormek didn't respond, instead he continued to stare down at the recently formed graveyard. He saw not only snow, but hundreds of broken weapons and shields and other various debris sticking out from the ice.

"It's almost as if you were saddened by the death of these Asreans," Ulgor said after a couple more minutes.

"What's that," Ormek replied, "I'm sorry, I have a strange condition that prevents me from hearing the comments of idiots." Ulgor snarled at his nemesis, but before he could respond Ormek turned to Torqin, who was standing beside Ulgor.

"Torqin, do your soldiers have Vilamaros?" Ormek asked.

"Yes sir," Torqin replied.

"See that he is brought to the armory," Ormek commanded, "I need to speak with him.

"Of course," Torqin answered with the slight nod of his head. He then departed to carry out his orders. Ormek remained only for a moment longer before he began to make his way back to the Ulgeron base. As he left, he and Ulgor exchanged angry glances, but neither of them spoke a word.

Before long all of the ulgerons had returned to their base and Ormek had made his way to the armory to find a frightened Vilamaros, bound, gagged and, blindfolded, lying on the ground. The general motioned to the guards who quickly cut the bands and removed the gag and blindfold.  
"What is the meaning of this," Vilamaros said angrily as he rose to his feet.

"It was just a precautionary measure," Ormek said as he removed his helmet and uncovered his face. "With so many of your fellow Asreans close by, we didn't want to risk you being spotted willingly following any Ulgerons.

"You could have warned me," Vilamaros said in frustration.

"I didn't even think of that," Ormek chuckled. "In any case, you are free now and with the death of your brother, that effectively makes you the ruler of Asrenath."

"Finally!" the Asrean muttered under his breath.

"And now that I have upheld my part of the bargain," Ormek continued, "It's time for you to do your part. How long will it take you to empty out Ulron-Chi?"

"I could have my troops out in three days," Vilamaros answered, "As far as the troops from the other nations I'd say, about two weeks."

"Very well," Ormek said, "the ulgerons will begin their assault on the fortress three weeks from now. You have till then to make sure you and your men are out. When you set sail, stay as close to the western sore as you can. Admiral Forraeos and his fleet will be waiting to ambush any ship that leaves Ulron-Chi. If you take any other course you will be met with ulgeron navy."

"I understand," Vilamaros nodded.

"Do you have any questions about the rest of your assignment?" Ormek inquired. Vilamaros simply shook his head to imply that he did not. "The rest of what I must do is clear," he said.

"All right then," Ormek continued, "these guards will take you to the surface. Good luck." Vilamaros then turned to follow the ulgerons out of the room, but before he could leave, Ormek drew a small knife from his belt and slashed it across the back of the prince's neck.

Vilamaros grunted with pain and grabbed the back of his neck. "What was that for?" he cried.

"I don't know for certain," Ormek laughed. "I just felt like giving you a reminder that your are still alive."

"You're one demented hylian," Vilamaros hissed.

"Quit your whining," Ormek said with a raised voice, "I barely even scratched you. Now get back to the fortress."

Vilamaros mumbled something inaudiably as he left, still stroking his own neck. Ormek waited for a few seconds after the prince left before he covered his face again and replaced his helmet and then left the armory himself. He made his way through the demonic caverns swiftly until he came to his next destination, the dungeon. He soon located the cell that contained two Tyfirian captives.

"I hope that my troops didn't mistreat you on your way here," Ormek said as he walked up to his old colleagues.

"What do you want Mygar?" Syrus said with a harsh voice.

"You know who I am without an introduction, eh?" Ormek asked.

"You are well known in my country," Syrus responded. "After all, the designs for your weapons came from Tyfiria."

"Not quite," Ormek refuted. "I was in truth the one who created those marvelous pieces of equipment."

"Don't try to fool me," Syrus shot back. "I saw the plans for those things long before you demons ever came to these lands. They are the designs of general Ormek.

"Indeed," Ormek said with a hint of amusement. "So Syrus, I hear you were promoted to the rank of general shortly after Ormek's passing."

"How… do you know who I am?" Syrus asked with a stutter.

"You also are well known to me," Ormek responded. "I would wager I know more about you then even Ekrin here."

"Syrus of Tyfiria, born as a slave Boccar Cyntir, you were sold to a wealthy farmer at the age of six. You worked on the farm, growing and harvesting wheat until the age of twelve, when the Tyfirian rebels attacked the farm and freed you. Ormek, who was only a captain at the time, took you in as his adopted brother. He trained you in the art of war and at the age of twenty-four you achieved the rank of colonel.

"During the brief Cyntir-Tyfirian war you sided with the king of Tyfiria and were one of the key people in defeating Ormek and you have been the caretaker of the good general's inventions from that time."

"How do you know this? Why are you here?" Syrus asked frantically as Ekrin looked at the supposed ulgeron in amazement.

"I am here, to set the two of you free," Ormek answered, but you will have to do a favor for me."

"What makes you think we'll help you," Syrus snapped. At that comment, Ormek did not say a word, but simply removed his helmet and pulled the cloth from his face.

"General?" Ekrin said in disbelief, "How… but you're dead."

"No," Ormek shook his head, "I merely faked my death to avoid being hunted by enemies."

"Ormek, you tricky serpent," Syrus said with a smile on his face. "I was completely fooled by your disguise."

"It is not a disguise," Ormek said hesitantly. "I am general Mygar."

"What?" Syrus said as the smile faded from his face.

"I am the one who has been leading the Siragons in their conquest." Ormek continued. "It was I that awoke the ulgerons of Siragoth. I taught them how to make their weapons and led them into battle. I am the cause of this war that is being fought, and it has all been done with the aid of the Triforce of Knowledge." Ormek then removed his gauntlet and showed his old friends the symbol on the back of is hand."

"But the Triforce was returned to the Sacred Realm," Syrus protested.

"That was another fakery on my part," Ormek replied.

"You lie!" Syrus shouted, "You're not the real Ormek. He would never have aided the Siragons! You must be the product of some demonic illusion!"

"No," Ormek said somberly, "I am Ormek. Though you are right, my old self never would have aided these fowl creatures. It's the Triforce of Knowledge. It has been filling my mind with lies. It has driven me mad. Even now it tries to consume my mind."

"Then why don't you rid yourself of it? Cast it away, be done with its evil," Syrus said, recalling the change the he had seen come over the general when he first obtained his piece of the Triforce. He remembered how after he obtained the relic, Ormek became far more vengeful and obsessed with his goal to destroy Cyntir. It was this same obsession which caused the former Tyfirian general to betray his country and imprison his own king.

"I will not lay it aside now," Ormek answered, "I can now see through the lies that once blinded me. I can finally see these demons for who they really are. I need the Triforce to defeat the ulgerons and put an end to their invasion of this world."

"If you want to defeat the ulgerons, why do you march ahead of them into war?" Syrus inquired sincerely.

"I can do more to hinder them on this side of the canon," said Ormek.

"No," Syrus said, "If you were true you would defect and share you weapons and wealth of knowledge with the races of this world and lead us to victory."

"No country would allow me to live if I returned." Ormek disputed. "Even king Talrid would seek my life if he knew I was yet alive. Especially if he knew of the crimes I have committed as Mygar. No, I will be more useful where I am, but I am in need of your help."

Syrus was still distrusting of his old mentor at this point, but he decided to listen to see how genuine Ormek was. "What do you need me to do?" Syrus asked after a short period of silence.

"Before I can tell you, I must reveal the plot of the Siragons to capture Ulron-Chi. They not gathered an army in Lorshimnen large enough to conquer the fortress. There are only about thirty-five thousand of the demons on the island at the present time.

"Earlier today, an army of ten thousand Asreans headed by prince Anthros, marched from Ulron-chi in hopes of rescuing you and Ekrin. The Siragons expected a desperate move such as that, for that the whole purpose of capturing you two was to draw them out. They were ambushed not two hours ago. The Asreans were cornered and then they were all destroyed, with the exception of prince Vilamaros. He was taken away from the rest of the army before the ambush.

"Vilamaros has been acting as a sort of spy for Siragoth for several months now, in exchange for the Asrean crown. Vilamaros was released only a few minutes ago. His next task is to return to Ulron-Chi. Once there he will tell the armies of the various lands of the Siragon troops. He will tell them he and his men were ambushed by a tremendous army made up of not only Siragons, but of Lorshimnenites, Cyntirians, and Tyfirians."

"What?" Syrus exclaimed, "That's absurd, no Tyfirian would aid Siragoth. No one will believe that!"

"No one needs to believe it," Ormek replied. "He will use his claim as grounds to pull the rest of the Asreans out of Ulron-Chi. From there, the rest of the union stationed at the fortress will crumble. One by one the different nations will leave Lorshimnen and before long the ancient structure will be left without a garrison. This is the aim of the demons. They do not have enough soldiers to take it by force, but they desire to capture Ulron-Chi above all else."

"Why?" Syrus questioned, "In all of this, I can't figure out the Siragons are so obsessed with taking the fortress."

"There is an ancient artifact of immense power somewhere within the structure that the Siragons need to complete their conquest." Ormek said.

"The Asreans have already searched the fortress" Syrus argued, "not just once, but several times. They have found nothing."

"Because they don't know what there looking for," Ormek countered.

"Well, what sort of artifact is it?" questioned Syrus.

"Of that I am not sure myself," Ormek answered, "Nor do I know what sort of power it contains, but this I do know, that the ulgerons, will never rest until they obtain it."

"How can you not know what it is?" Syrus asked. "I thought you were these demons' ruler."

"I am merely a military commander," Ormek replied, "The demons have not told me what exactly they seek here. Most of the Siragons do not even know what there looking for, only that there is something here they need to enslave the races of this world. And for this reason we can allow them to be victorious here. That is why I must have your assistance, Syrus.

"I need you and Ekrin to return to Ulron-Chi and dispute the claims of Vilamaros. Reveal him as a traitor to his country if you can. Get as many troops to remain at the fortress as you can. It does not have to be many. the defenses of Ulron-Chi will keep you well protected. The Siragons are relatively few in number in this part of the land. Do this and I will lead the demons under my command to their utter destruction. A defeat here will be a tremendous loss to Siragoth. It will buy you enough time to gather together another garrison, one large enough that you will be able to defend the fortress forever if you must."

Ormek then fell silent, giving his former allies a chance to ponder his words. Syrus didn't know how to react. He was still having trouble grasping the fact that Ormek was still alive, not to mention that his old friend was in fact the Siragon who was responsible for all the destruction the demons had caused. He could barely even think about the other things Ormek had told him.

"I understand that would be distrusting of me," Ormek finally said after more than two minutes of silence, "If you still do not believe my words, than go. Return to Ulron-Chi and see if Vilamaros does not do exactly as I have said. When he does, you will know all the things I have told you are true." Syrus simply nodded at this statement.

"That's right," Ormek said seeming very pleased as he pulled a key from his belt and handed it to Ekrin. "Do not open your cell for at least another hour. I am being watched very closely by some of the demons here. Once you make you escape, follow these directions back to Ulron-Chi," he said as he handed Ekrin a folded piece of paper. "Stay out of the open. I will create a diversion for you, so that the Siragons will search for you in the wrong places.

"Syrus, I am counting on you," Ormek said as he slid his left hand through the bars of the cell and placed it on Syrus's shoulder. "You need to understand that I realize I have done many terrible things as general Mygar. I am simply trying to set things right." Syrus was at a loss for how to respond, he could only give a half smile to the man he once regarded as a brother.

"Syrus, there is something else I need you to do," Ormek whispered so that Ekrin could not hear him, as he drew a cylindrical object from his belt and placed it Syrus's hand. "This is one of the seven dark stones of Malikar that was recovered from king of Carthor. All seven stones are required in order to utilize the treasure found at Ulron-Chi. The ulgerons posses six of the stones including this one. The seventh eludes them for the time being, but always are the ulgerons drawn to their power. They can sense when one of them is near. However, the canister I have placed it in is able to absorb the energy that constantly emanates from the stone.

"Whatever you do, do not open the canister. As long as it remains sealed the demons will be unable to detect its presence. Regardless of whether or not Ulron-Chi falls, the ulgerons can not enslave the other races without this stone. I place this critical task upon you my old friend, to keep this stone away from our enemies, until the end of the world if necessary.

"Do not reveal its existence to anyone, not even to Talrid. Do not even mention it to me if our paths should ever cross again. Do you understand?

"Yes," Syrus answered hesitantly. "I will mention this to no one."

"I knew I could count on you general," Ormek smiled. "Be careful as you make your escape. These halls are crawling with demons. You may find it useful to disguise yourselves as you exit."

Ormek then stepped away from the cell and again donned his helmet. "Farewell Syrus," He said with a somber tone, "I hope than one day I will be able to tell you the whole story." Ormek then saluted his brother in arms and promptly left.

"I don't know if I can trust him," Ekrin whispered once Ormek was gone.

"Neither do I," Syrus agreed, "but one thing I do know. We have to get out of here." He then took the key from Ekrin and used it to unlock the cell door, but he did not open it. Instead he laid himself on the ground, with his feet against the door and his knees bent and closed his eyes. Ekrin likewise placed himself on the ground and closed his eyes as the two of them waited for their chance to make a run for it. They did not have to wait long, only until a couple of ulgerons came down into the dungeon with a pail full of what seemed to be some sort of petrified stew.

"Supper time," one of the ulgerons shouted has he approached the Tyfirians. "You dogs are in luck tonight. The cook made you my favorite dish. Wild wolfos brains with ground centipedes." Neither of the men reacted to the comment, but instead pretended to be asleep.

"Hey!" the ulgeron shouted, "Didn't you maggots hear me? Wake up!" The two men continued to feign sleep, until both ulgerons stood outside their cell. Syrus then took his chance by pushing on the cell door with all his might, using his legs. The door swung open violently, knocking both of the demons over. One hit his head on the ground as he fell, knocking him unconscious. Syrus quickly sprang to his feet, rushed out of the cell and tackled the other ulgeron as he attempted to get back on his feet. The two of them began wrestling with each other. Before long, the muscular demon started to gain the advantage over his hylian attacker. Within ten seconds he had Syrus pinned.

"I just thought of another dish that I like better," the ulgeron laughed cruelly, "fresh hylian meat." The demon then opened his mouth to take a bite out of his opponent, but before he could, Ekrin came up behind him and smacked him in the back of the head with the dinner pail, knocking him out cold as well.

"Thanks," Syrus said as Ekrin helped him up off the ground. The two Tyfirians wasted no time in stripping their captors of their clothing, using it to cover themselves in hopes that they'd be able to blend in with the ulgerons as they made their way to the surface. Once they were done they dragged the demons into their old cell and locked them in. Unfortunately, neither of the demons wore anything to cover their faces, but as they exited out of the dungeon they discovered two ulgeron helmets sitting by the door.

"It looks like Ormek left us a parting gift," Ekrin said as picked up one of the helmets and placed it over his head. Syrus followed his example as Ekrin unfolded the map Ormek had given him. With the help of the map and their new clothing, the two hylians easily made there way through the cavernous corridors all the way to the surface on the western side of the ulgeron base. When they arrived they discovered the sun had already gone down and the temperature had dropped significantly.

"I am so sick of the weather on this island," Ekrin said with his teeth chattering. Syrus did not respond, he simply took the map from Ekrin's hand and followed the directions to a large near by rock. Leaning up against the boulder's side was a small deposit of provisions, including thick ulrian clothing lined with fur. They also found two weeks worth of rations for two people and a small tent.

"It looks like ol' Ormek has us covered," Ekrin said with a grin.

"Yeah…," Syrus said still suspicious of his old friend. "I don't know. This seems too easy. None of this seems to be adding up to me. We should be wary off all of this."

"I agree," Ekrin responded, "but let's make the best of this situation and get as far away from the ulgerons as possible." Syrus simply nodded and the two of them continued to follow the map into a grove of pine trees and away from their prison.

Meanwhile, back in the ulrian base, Ormek had been busy furthering his plans. He had made his way to the stables of the Rimgard, carefully knocked out the ulgerons guards there without being noticed, and took two of the horses and saddled them. He then guided them to the surface on the northeastern side of the base. Once there he smacked the thighs of both horses and sent them galloping off ,riderless, into the night. The general then returned to his quarters.

He was not there an hour before an ulgeron officer knocked on his door. "Enter," Ormek said casually. A nervous looking demon then entered the room.

"What is it, colonel?" Ormek asked, with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Sir," the ulgeron gulped, "The two Tyfirian prisoners have escaped."  
"What!" Ormek yelled as though he didn't already know. "How?!"

"We don't sir," the demon answered, "We recently found two of the guards locked in their cell, with the captives nowhere to be found. We also discovered that two of the Rimgards' horses have been stolen. We have checked many of the entrances to the base and located fresh horse tracks at the northeastern door.

"Have you sent search parties after them yet?" Ormek inquired.

"Yes sir," the ulgeron answered. "We have already dispatched three teams.

"We need more!" Ormek barked, "Send out all available units to look for them. Send an advance group of Rimgard riders to the mountains just north of Ulron-Chi. They are to make certain the no hylian makes it back to the fortress. We can't afford to have these prisoners inform our enemies of the location of our base!" The ulgeron saluted and was about to leave to carry out his orders before Ormek stopped him.

"Colonel," Ormek called out, "When you captured the two Tyfirians earlier today, did you take any other prisoners?"

"We imprisoned a few Asrean officers," the demon replied.

"Where are they?" Ormek asked anxiously.

"The southern dungeon on the third level," the ulgeron divulged. "Why do you ask?"

Ormek smiled and then said confidently, "Because I have thought of a way to use them to capture my prey."


End file.
